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BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 




The Author 



BEHIND 
THE GERMAN VEIL 

A RECORD OF 
A JOURNALISTIC WAR PILGRIMAGE 



J. M. DE BEAUFORT 

(CoDNT VAN MAURIK DE BEAUFORT) 

Recently War Correspondent of the 
London Daily Telegraph 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS 




NEW YORK 

DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 

1917 






^o^f 



COPTRIQHT, 1917 

By DODD. mead AND COMPANY. Inc. 



MAY -8 1917 



©C!.A460640 



TO 
M. L. T. 

best of friends, 

TO 

"JEAN" 

who has ever been my ideal 
and inspiration, 

AND TO 

GEORGE H. T., 

JUSTIN McGr., 

ROBERT C. McC, 

ARTHUR C, 

AND 

ARTHUR D. 

American friends tried and true, who 

have helped me through many dark 

hours and who taught me how 

to become a good American 

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK 



AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

I am greatly indebted to Dr. G. W. Prothero, Editor of 
the Quarterly Revieio, for his kind jjermission to republish 
the articles on the German Navy, Helgoland, Kiel, the Ger- 
man Coast Defences and the Maps, which appeared in the 
July and October, 1916, numbers of his publication. 

My acknowledgment and thanks are also due to the Lon- 
don Daily Telegraph in which parts of Chapters VII., X., 
XLI., XLV., XLVII. and LIII, have been published, and 
to the London Sunday Pictorial for permission to reprint 
Chapters XXII. and XXVI. (Hindenburg and the Kaiser). 

J. M. DE B. 



CONTENTS 



luTRODtrcnoK xiii 



PART I 
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Veil and the Methods 3 

II. My " PoixT d'Appui " — Robie 14 

III. "The Adder" 19 

IV. German Mind and Character 22 

V. German Psychology 27 

VI. The Press in Germany 31 

VII. Berlin Impressions 46 

VIII. Berlin Impressions (continued) 51 

IX. Munich 65 

X. Zeppelins '''2 

XI. Spies and Spying — I 82 

XII. Spies and Spying — II 88 

XIII. Spies and Spying — III 96 

XIV. A German Fable 100 

XV. German Women 105 

XVI. Hunting with the Camera 115 

XVII. "Spiritual Humol-r" (German Variety) . . 130 

PART II 

MY TRIP TO THE EASTERN FRONT AND VISIT 
TO HINDENBURG 

XVIII. Preliminaries 129 

XIX. Berlin — Allenstein. Meeting with Young 
VON Bethmann-Hollweg — Arrest in the 
Fortress of Posen ... in Pyjamas . . . 134 

XX. Allenstein 146 

XXI. Allenstein — Feste Boten (Lotzen) . . . 156 



CONTENTS 

CffAPTEB tAGB 

XXII. HlNDENBUaG 163 

XXIII. LoTZEN 177 

XXIV. En Route 183 

XXV. Impressions int the Polish Fightikg Zones . . 193 

XXVI. When I Prated with the Kaiser 208 

XXVII.. HlNDENBtTRG LtTDENDORFF AND FaLKENHATN . 217 

XXVIII. Railroads 223 

XXIX. Retrospect 225 



PART III 

AN INCOGNITO VISIT TO THE FLEET AND GER- 
MANY'S NAVAL HARBOURS 

XXX. The German Admiralty 235 

XXXI. Germany's Coast Defences 239 

XXXII. Heligoland 249 

XXXIII. Protection of the Kiel Canal 255 

XXXIV. From Emden to Wilhelmshaven 259 

XXXV. Wilhelmshaven 269 

XXXVI. Wilhelmshaven to Cuxhaven 273 

XXXVII. Cuxhaven to Kiel. The Canal 280 

XXXVIII. Kiel Harbour 290 

XXXIX. Training and Strategy 298 



XL. 

XLI. 

XLII. 

XLIII. 

XLIV. 



XLV. 
XL VI. 



PART IV 

INTERVIEWS 

Introductions 307 

Arthur von Gwinner 309 

Dr. Walther Rathenau . 320 

Ambassador Count von Bernstorff .... 328 

Matthias Erzberger — Press Manipulator and 
Advertising Expert 332 

Secretary of the Late German Colonies, " Ex- 
cellenz Dr. Solf," and His A.D.C, Dr. 
BiicHER 339 

Sassenbach — Social Democrat 346 

Minister of the Interior — Helfferich . . . 352 



CHAPTER 

XLVII. 
XLVIII. 



XLIX. 

L. 

LI. 

LII. 
LIII. 



LIV. 



CONTENTS 

PAOE 

Admiral von Capelle and " Captain Lieuten- 
ant" LOHLEIN 353 

Press-Major Herwarth von Bitterfeld of the 
Great General Staff Settles the Problem 
of Universal Peace 355 

Herr Crass, Krupp's Representative in Berlin , 360 
Herr Ballin's A.D.C, Herr von Holtzendorff . 365 
The German-Turkish Alliance and Its Am- 
bitions 368 

On " Strafing " and Those Who Don't . . . 387 
The Fateful Interview with Baron Macchio, 

Late Austro-Hungarian Ambassador in Rome 392 
Another " Daily Telegraph " Interview that 
Upset Berlin. Trouble — Arrest — Escape . 396 



PART V 

FINALE 
Envoy 401 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Author Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

The Magic Key. My Letter of Introduction to Ilindenburg 
written by his nephew. The address reads: To the Royal 
Field-Marshal, Knight of the Highest Order, Herr von 
Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg 16 

Conscription in England. John Bull learning the goose step . 2S 
Winter Campaign in Poland. Kaiser in conversation with 

Commander of a Landwehr Division 48 

No Admission to Potsdam 56 

Landwehr Non-Commissioned Officers 68 

English Tricks. In order to protect public buildings from 
Zeppelin bombs, the English have placed German prisoners 

on the roofs ' 74 

Zeppelin over London. The End of England's Sea-Power. 
Lord Nelson descending from his Column to hide in the 
Underground Railway 80 

Zeppelin over Lodz 84 

In the Polish fighting zones. Man on left of picture was shot 

at the moment of re-loading 96 

The fighting near and in the woods of Augustowo . ... 96 
German tars winding a wreath of mines aroimd Miss Britannia 110 
Englishman in Hell. "No Zeppelins, no Krupp Howitzers; 

no Submarines ! Why, I must be in Heaven ! " . . . . 122 
At AUenstein Station. Von Bethmann-Hollweg, nephew of 

the Chancellor, centre. Lieutenant von Plewe, right . . 138 
Lieutenant von Bethmann-Hollweg, who has since been killed, 

on the right, and the Author. Photograph was taken at 

AUenstein Station 150 

Russian Prisoners 170 

The Author's car at Fortress Boy en (Lotzen), Hindenburg's 
headquarters. Note the Chauffeur's rifle near lamp . . 184 

Patrol of woods of Augustowo 190 

Advancing near Augustowo 190 

German Soldiers on the Russian Front 200 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

A snapshot of the Kaiser taken by Prince Oscar. It was sent 
to a photographer in a small town to have film developed. 
The man printed a few copies for his own use, and sent 
one to an agency in Berlin. The Berlin firm sold the 
photograph, but the moment it appeared the greater part 
of the magazine in which it was published was confiscated 214 
Hindenburg and his Staff. Ludendorff appropriately placed 

on Hindenburg's right 220 

Auto Train, Eastern Front 223 

German retreat at Mlawa 226 

Russian Prisoners 230 

Popular Naval Poster. " Let us drink the health of the good 
old Emden, who is throwing such a lot of good things in 

our way " 262 

Commander's bridge (starboard side) of the Helgoland . . 282 
Recently completed railroad bridge over the Kiel Canal near 

'Rendsburg 286 

Augustowo Dugouts 330 

Native Soldiers of Kamerun 342 

One of the largest Zeppelins leaving its shed at Marienthal, 

near Berlin. Note size of men on top 352 

A model Krupp gun, small type of the 42 cm. howitzer. This 

model is in the author's possession 352 

The Famous Krupp Armament Works at Essen. 5000 ton 

Press 362 

England astride Egypt, and pulling the wires for the Khedive. 
Figure in foreground represents Sultan of Turkey ready 
with a pair of scissors to cut the strings . . . . . . 370 

German Prisoners in England. How the press keeps the fires 
of " strafing " England burning 388 

MAPS 

Germany's Coast Defences along the North Sea 238 

Heligoland 248 

Wilhelmshaven 268 

Kiel Harbour 294 



INTRODUCTION 

In the following chapters I have tried to record my 
impressions, observations, interviews and adventures on 
a somewhat extensive journalistic pilgrimage through 
Germany in war-time. 

Before embarking on my descriptions, I am going to 
permit myself what Parliamentarians call a " personal 
note," which will show you that my acquaintance with 
Germany and the Germans is not of the " war-made " 
variety. 

Since I am convinced that but for my American 
journalistic training, I would never have been able to 
accomplish many of my journalistic enterprises, I take 
this occasion to acknowledge with a deep sense of ap- 
preciation and gratitude, my three years' apprentice- 
ship in America. They taught me many things ; they 
revealed to me an entirely new aspect of life. I learned 
the real meaning of the terms " Hustle," " Get busy " 
and " Stick to it." I learned there that there are 
many other battlefields where spurs and honours may 
be won than those of war and murder. I look back 
with interest and pleasure to many friendly (and some- 
times unfriendly but always spirited) contests with col- 
leagues, in trying to obtain the best " story " for one's 
own paper or even to score a " beat." 

The outbreak of the war found me in America. 
Much as I disliked and against the advice of many 
friends, I gave up m}' work there. Europe called. 
Blood will tell. I soon found myself getting restless. 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

My sympathies with the Allies, more specifically the 
British cause, urged that I had no right to lag behind 
in making sacrifices. 

So in September, 1914, I bid " Au revoir " to Amer- 
ica and since then and thanks to that belated American 
Education, I have been able to do " my bit," as we say 
over there, in various capacities. 

While my British confreres were still camping on 
the doormat of the War Office, waiting for those elu- 
sive permits (for many of them it was a case of " Wait 
and See," without the " see "), I was fortunate enough 
to reach the front at Ostende, Nieuport, Dixmude, 
Ypres and soon found myself in the thick of it. Oh, 
yes, I was arrested more than once, but I had not 
served my apprenticeship in American newspaperdom, 
without benefit. I could talk a " straight streak " in 
just the language the other fellow did not know — when 
necessary, and though I often skated on mighty thin 
ice I usually managed to keep out of jail. 

I have had the rare privilege of reading my own obit- 
uary and even aff^orded a colleague the somewhat 
unique experience of shaking hands with a man whose 
" In Memoriam " he had written in one solid column. 
As your Mark Twain put it, " the report was some- 
what exaggerated." (Not the first time either!) 
Though I had a close call, I escaped, and — as you 
shall see — I am still " in the ring." 

By birth and parentage I am a Hollander, but the 
" de Beaufort " part of my name comes from a grand- 
uncle who was a native of the Grand Duchy of Luxem- 
bourg. Since 1914 my better half, or I should say my 
best half, has been American. Let me hasten to ex- 
plain this. Before starting for the theatre of war I 
applied, at the advice of a friend, for my first American 
citizenship papers. I hope to obtain my final papers 



INTRODUCTION xv 

shortly, after which I shall place my services at the 
disposal of the American Government. 

My father belonged to that type of stubborn parent 
who thinks he knows what is best for a boy of fifteen. 
He had very pronounced views, like some other people, 
on the Gorman educational sj'stem (so have I, for that 
matter, but the}' are somewhat different). He thouglit 
that I should benefit by a few years of German school 
and college. And, in spite of stormy and liquid pro- 
tests, to Germany I went. 

From an English tutor to a German schoolmaster! 
It did not take me many days after my arrival in Ger- 
many to find out the abysmal diflFerence that separates 
the two, and to suffer accordingly. 

Talk about the two educational systems — Ye gods ! 
If there is any one who ought to be able to discourse on 
them, I think I am the man. 

Being at the time — not now — an embryo large 
landowner, I was first sent to the Agricultural College 
at Cleve in the Rhine province. My " tenderest " 
recollections of that institution are connected with the 
gymnasium and a three-foot bamboo rod. 

Already then I shoAved literary tendencies, but, alas ! 
they were neither appreciated nor encouraged. My 
first effort was to try and censor one of their patriotic 
poems. Imagine a self-respecting Hollander having to 
stand up in front of the class and recite five verses, each 
ending with : " I am a Prussian, and a Prussian I will 
be." 

Once a term or so they hold in Germany what is called 
" Offentliche Priifung " ; in other words, a " public ex- 
amination." The parents are invited, and those whose 
offspring are " show specimens " bring their friends 
(mine did not). The boys wear their best clothes, 
and, of course, only the smartest amongst them perform. 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

I suppose just to show that there was no ill-feeling 
on his part, the Headmaster, Herr Fiirstenberg — I 
can still see him with his mean grey eyes, looking at 
me over the rim of his glasses and getting a firm hold 
on the rod — appointed me to recite the obnoxious 
poem. Amid dead silence I started. When I came 
to the end of the verse in which I had eulogised the 
" old father Rhine," I yelled: 

" And I am a Dutchman, and a Dutchman I will be." 

It is a few years ago, but I can still see the startled 
audience and the awful pallor of old Fiirstenberg. An 
anarchist's bomb could not have had a greater effect. 
Then some of the people tried to smile it away, but the 
smile was somewhat sickly. I was promptly torn from 
the stand ; somebody tried to turn my ear upside-down, 
to which I retaliated with a well-directed kick, and then, 
— well, never mind. There was a vacancy at the 
Agricultural College. 

Cleve was very uncosmopolitan. My fellow-students 
consisted mostly of the sons of large landowners and 
gentlemen farmers, and they resented, not always 
merely passively, the intrusion of a " Verdamrate 
Auslander " (" damned foreigner ") in their Germanic 
midst. But there was, as there is in most things in 
life, a price. If you were willing to demonstrate practi- 
cal socialism — i.e., share your money, your sweets, your 
pony, your bicycle, or whatever it might be — you were, 
for such time as your possessions lasted, a " Lieber 
Kerl " ("dear chap"). Unfortunately I soon dis- 
covered that the particular socialistic principle pro- 
pounded by my fellow-students — ■■ i.e., of sharing all 
you had — ■■ was a somewhat one-sided law, as I did all 
the sharing, and they all the partaking, without prac- 
tising the same doctrines as far as their own possessions 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

were concerned. So I resigned. This did not increase 
my popularit3% I had as many fights as any self-re- 
specting bo}' of fifteen could have in the Fatherland, 
and that, let me assure you, was sufficient to keep me in 
practice. 

But there is one incident which will best illustrate the 
" camaraderie " that exists amongst German " sport- 
ing " schoolboys. There is a saying, that the boy is 
father to the man. I understand its meaning now. 
Boxing is a lost art in Germany ; it was in my days and 
is so still. Wrestling is their forte. Quite natural, 
too. The German is heavy in mind as well as in body. 
Wrestling does not require as quick an eye as boxing. 
Thanks to the very good lessons of my old English 
tutor, God bless him, who, between trying to teach me 
to pronounce " th " and the English " r," had initiated 
me into the secrets of boxing, I emerged victorious 
from many scraps. 

It was the day after one of those periodical fights in 
which two boys of the " secunda " (I was only " ter- 
tia "), had received many marks but few honours, that 
I met my two opponents in the Park accompanied by 
four of their friends. Of course I was waylaid, and the 
usual schoolboy argument, " I can lick you," " No, you 
can't," ensued. I owned in those days an English 
bulldog. He looked very fierce, always wore the " By- 
Jingo-if-I-do " sort of expression, and was never im- 
pressed by German flattery either from man or beast. 
(Old Bob knew a lot, if only he could have talked ! But 
perhaps it was just as well he couldn't. He probably 
would say now : " I told you so." But " revenons a 
nos moutons.") 

" Boxing," so I was informed, was not a gentlemanly 
way of fighting. Only English navvies fought with 



xviii INTRODUCTION 

their fists. But wrestling, and wrestling according to 
the approved Roman or Grecian rules, now that was a 
different matter ; that was " fair and square " ! 

I told them that I was innocent of any knowledge 
of the Roman-Greco wrestling rules, but I offered to 
thrash my two opponents of yesterday once again 
where they stood, and I hoped that the proportion of 
two to one in their favour would make up for my ig- 
norance and perhaps consequent transgression of those 
rules. 

Here is where German diplomacy got the best of me. 

" Assisted by dog and stick ? " they sneeringly in- 
quired. I was very young and inexperienced in Ger- 
man methods in those days, so I was deeply insulted 
and most indignant at their daring to suggest such a 
cowardly thing. " I don't need anything else but my 
two fists," I yelled, " to liclc two German pigs like you." 
And to prove my assertion, I turned aside to where a 
little kind-faced, grey-bearded old German stood, and, 
with a polite bow, I begged him to be kind enough to 
hold my dog and stick for a few moments. He ver}"^ 
kindly condescended to accept the charge, but thought 
it safer to take old Bob away from the scene of the 
forthcoming battle. He was a wise old German. 

" Divide and win " was already in those days the 
motto of these young warriors. "Fair and square?" 
Why, even then they were mere words, mere " scraps of 
paper." 

I will not go into painful details of that engagement ; 
suffice it to say that I received the worst beating I ever 
had, or ever heard tell of. The moment my faithful 
friend and ally had disappeared from view, all SIX of 
them attacked me. Not only the " scenery of my 
face " — as, in my early English-speaking days I used 
to say instead of " expression," — but the contour as 



INTRODUCTION xix 

well suffered a thorough change. It was many weeks 
before it returned to its normal proportions and col- 
ours. There was no doubt about it; this time / bore 
the marks, but had they the honours ? German-like, of 
course they thought so, but I differed from them, and 
. . . remembered. 

From Cleve I went to Bonn, which was comparatively 
uneventful, as, of course, I gradually began to grasp 
the German point of view. My earlier impressions were 
the most pregnant and vivid. 

Often during the last two years they have come back 
to me and that is probably the reason why I have not 
been able to share the feelings of surprise my English 
friends experience when reading the reports of the 
German way of fighting. Never, until this war, did I 
really fully appreciate the advantage those three years 
in Germany conferred on me. 

I apologise to my father. He was right — Germany 
taught me many things; but, best of all, 
" I learned about ' Germans ' from her." 

J. M. DE B. 

New York, 
April, 1917. 



PART I 

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS 



Behind the German Veil 

CHAPTER I 

THE VEIL AND THE METHODS 

"r INHERE is no German Veil; we have nothing to 
A hide." Thus Major Deutelmoser, Chief of the 
Press Department of the General Staff in Berlin, coun- 
tered when I jestingly remarked that I had come to 
German}^, " to have a peep behind the veil." How 
many a true word is spoken in jest ! 

I received practically the same reply everywhere 
whenever I suggested the veil or " behind the scenes." 

" We have nothing to hide," thundered Major Her- 
warth von Bitterfeld, of the Intelligence Service. 
*' The German Veil is only another of the many inven- 
tions of our enemies, chiefly the English. You can see 
everything in Germany ; go anywhere, everything is 
open and above board." 

" The German Veil is a myth," said Baron Mumm 
von Schwarzenstein, of the Foreign Office ; " it is as 
great a myth as the British Fleet in the German Ocean.* 
It does not exist. It is an illusion." 

There you are, dear reader, three opinions thrown at 
me — nay, I feel inclined to say, jammed down my 
throat — many times a day during the months I spent 
in Germany. 

The ideas that existed in England about Germany 
during the early months of the war were simply ap- 

1 German for North Sea. 
3 



4 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

palling. Many opinions expressed by the majority of 
people were preposterous. 

And when I say " people," I do not mean that vague 
individual, " the man in the street," but your educated, 
well-read and even well-travelled classes: soldiers, par- 
liamentarians, writers (famous strategists!), etc., etc. 
To read some of your papers, to listen to some of your 
people, one would have thought that the Russians were 
going to march through the Brandenburger Thor of 
Berlin by Christmas, 1914, and that the Belgians would 
celebrate New Year's Eve in their beloved Brussels. 
The Kaiser was to be deposed, and Prussia was going to 
receive a really liberal constitution. Germany could 
not stand the financial strain. The military corre- 
spondent of one of your most important papers wrote 
in August, 1914 : " German financial experts have sug- 
gested ways and means for financing a war lasting six 
months, but no longer, on the present enormous scale " ! 
A well-known Member of Parliament told me in Janu- 
ary, 1915, that Germany would sue for peace in three 
months ; a military writer — a colonel — wrote that the 
last German offensive would take place in September, 
1915, and that in the following October the Allied line 
would run from Ostend, through Maubeuge, Ardennes, 
Luxembourg, Metz, Strassburg! Germany would soon 
be short of everything — bread, copper, cotton, rubber, 
petrol — and, if you read some of the statistics given by 
your " experts " on German man-power, the German 
trenches ought to have been manned for the last six 
months by idiots and cripples. 

Even to-day, after twenty-eight months of war, there 
are still many people in this country who have not the 
faintest understanding about the German character, 
the German aims, their cunning and their designs. 



THE VEIL AND THE METHODS 5 

Here and there I hear whispers about peace ; I am asked 
whether the present peace-talk may lead to anything. 

I hope to God it will ! 

I hope it will lead to a doubled — nay, to a hundred- 
fold — renewed effort of smashing the Germans' war- 
machine. I should like to see the Germans — in the 
famous words of Bismarck when he referred to the 
French — " left with nothing but their eyes to weep 
with." Alas! that will prove too expensive an order, 
but they must be beaten, and they can be beaten only 
by the memory of those that have sacrificed their lives ; 
disabuse yourself of the illusion that it is done already. 

Germany is far from beaten yet. 

" But they want peace," I have been told so often 
these last weeks. Perhaps they do ; again, perhaps 
they don't ! The Germans are no fools, whatever else 
they may be, and they are perfectly well aware that 
the Allies would not, and could not, accept any terms 
which Germany at present, with both eyes on the map, 
would propose. I do not believe that there is any peace 
door " ajar " yet. I think that entrance or exit, what- 
ever you choose to call it, is still barred and locked, and 
that the deceptive " latchstring " hanging outside is 
connected with a mine. The Germans are merely look- 
ing out of the window — the top-floor one — and I 
think that whosoever would venture close to that " peace 
door " would have a somewhat similar experience as 
some of our men had early in the war, when they rushed 
towards " surrendering " Germans, showing the white 
flag and standing with their hands up. 

I fear that there is a great deal more than barbed 
wire and machine-guns behind that German " peace 
door." 

It may not be so evident to those who only look as 
far as . . . the door; but let me quote part of a con- 



6 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

versation I had with one of Hindenburg's staff-officers 
at Allenstein, East Prussia, last year; it may enlarge 
their view. Said he : 

" We never thought we could do it. We never ex- 
pected that we should be called upon to fight so many 
enemies at the same time. We were not prepared for 
that. We were short of ammunition in November, 
1914. But if we are able to accomplish all we have up 
till now, UN prepared, then ' Himmel ' " (by heaven!), 
" give us a draw now and see what we can do ten years 
hence." 

Yes, perhaps Germany wants peace now, but only 
because she wants to have foundations left upon which 
to build a new organisation, a new stupendous war- 
machine, which in ten years from now would dwarf 
anything the world has yet seen, heard or imagined. 

That is what I should answer to those who are think- 
ing of peace now. 

Since the beginning of the war I have had arguments, 
discussions, remonstrations, and even to a certain extent 
quarrels, with many friends and acquaintances, some- 
times even at the risk of being suspected of pro-German 
sympathies. Of course, before my recent German visit 
my arguments were weakened by the fact that I had 
not been in Germany for six or seven years, and there- 
fore could not speak from fresh personal observation. 

So, when after several months at the Belgian front 
and in France, the London DaUy Telegraph, in con- 
junction with several American publications, offered 
me a special journalistic mission, viz., to go to Ger- 
many, I accepted with alacrity. 

I thought that by going to Germany as a journalist, 
by looking round, and seeing what the general feeling 
of the people was; their mental attitude towards the 



THE VEIL AND THE METHODS 7 

war, the condition of the country generally, etc., etc., 
and by telling the people of the allied countries on my 
return what I had seen, I would be doing my share. 

It has been suggested — I have even seen it in print 
— that I undertook my trip on behalf of the British 
Intelligence Service. 

Any such assertion is absolutely and utterly false. 

I held no brief, either for the British or for any 
other Government, and I have never received, nor asked, 
one single penny from any other sources but those in 
payment for journalistic and literary material which 
has been published. 

I started on my mission and entered Germany with 
as far as possible an open mind. I could not honestly 
say at that time that I hated the Germans ; I merely 
had no use for them. Besides, I have always believed 
that the spirit of hatred is a great drawback to any 
journalist. It tends to blind intelligent observation; 
it makes him see matters distorted. I wanted no 
secrets, naval, military or otherwise ; I wanted news, 
straight, honest, reliable news. My likes or dislikes 
had nothing to do with my work. I entered upon my 
mission in exactly the same spirit as I would have had 
in Paris, Rome, Petrograd, Constantinople, etc. But 
even a journalist of less perspicacity than one schooled 
in America would soon find out that " straight, reliable 
news " are somewhat rare and expensive commodities in 
Germany these days. You might find " news," but 
without the " reliable " or the " straight." You may 
find the " reliable " and the " straight " but without 
it being news. 

" We have nothing to hide." H'm ! only you must 
look at everything with German-coloured glasses. If 
you happen to try to talk with a private, very soon his 
superior oflScer will cut short his answers and reply for 



8 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

him. If for the sake of argument you take the " purely 
hypothetical " case, " Suppose Germany should be de- 
feated? " you are told at once that unless you wish to 
make yourself thoroughly unpopular in Germany, and 
have your entire mission become an utter failure, you 
must not suggest such " impossible abstract cases " ; 
you must not " put such ideas into people's heads ! " 

Except in the case of certain show prisoners' camps, 
every journalist is rigorously excluded from Belgium, 
Luxembourg and Poland, which have remained terra 
incognita to all journalists, except those who have given 
abundant proofs that they were willing to read and see 
everything with German spectacles. And even they are 
not allowed to roam at large. If you want any inter- 
views you must accept the " made in Germany " vari- 
ety. In fine, they have " nothing to hide," but you 
must ask no questions ; you must travel round Germany 
hand in hand with your German guardian angel, who 
watches and wards you night and day ; and except 
when he tells you to " stop, look and listen," you must 
" Move on," deaf, dumb and blind ! 

Consequently, to be a "successful" journalist in 
Germany means selling your birthright for a mess of 
pottage. Let me hasten, though, to add that the sale 
is so cleverly disguised that the majority of neutral 
journalists are unaware of it. Why? Ah, that is 
difficult to explain. It is the German atmosphere. 

The German war atmosphere has a most peculiar, 
strange and indescribable effect upon the mind. I feel 
that I can state without fear of contradiction that out 
of every thousand real neutrals that enter Germany, 
nine hundred and ninety-nine succumb within a few 
short weeks to German " ideals " and points of view. 
Indeed, you must carry the strongest pro-Ally or pro- 



THE VEIL AND THE METHODS 9 

British convictions, in order to be able to withstand 
the German influence getting hold of you. 

It is a most marvellous, a most extraordinary phe- 
nomenon ; it is something indefinably subtle, and in my 
heart I cannot blame any colleagues for having become 
hypnotised by that influence. The German arguments 
are convincing; they are plausible, logical, final, to the 
German and the German-prepared mind. I fear I 
cannot even attempt to describe it within the space of 
a chapter. It has become something like the spirit 
of religion. 

I have watched and seen its eff^ect upon colleagues 
who entered Germany in a neutral state of mind, some 
even with a leaning towards the Allied side. Within a 
week they were " converted." 

And I may as well confess right now that even I, 
heart, body and soul pro-British as I am and have been 
for twelve years, even I realise that at times it was only 
the strong impenetrable armour of my motto, " Right 
or Wrong — England," that kept me unscathed. 

This is what a neutral journalist in Germany finds 
himself pitted against. To collect news and reliable 
impressions in spite of those influences, which are at 
work against you day and night, let me assure you, is 
no easy task. 

And with the same assiduity the German cause is 
preached and served in neutral countries. 

There are three diff'erent ways open to a journalist 
in the Fatherland. 

The first way — and to some of the fraternity the 
simplest and easiest — is to throw all self-respect to the 
winds ; to learn to recite Lissauer's " Hymn of Hate," 
forwards, backwards and sideways ; to write daily 
eulogies on the land that holds the monopoly of 



10 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

"Kultur"; in short, to become a German Press agent. 

The second procedure is to remain quietly in Berlin 
and swallow (or at least pretend to) the periodical 
items of " news " that the G.G.S. and the F.O. ladle out 
to you, while at the same time you are gathering your 
own impressions and drawing your own conclusions. 

The third method is the most interesting but, of 
course, equally the most hazardous. Just take your 
pen — I almost said " gun " — ^ and prowl about the 
country and see what you can pot. Of course, wher- 
ever your covers look promising you will meet with the 
notice, that trespassers will be prosecuted; in other 
words, the sign : " Verboten," but never mind that. 
Those are the occasions when you do not understand 
German.^ 

The German is not an adventurer like the English- 
man, the American, the Dutchman. He is too cau- 
tious ; he must carefully figure out every motive, and 
then, when — theoretically — the project has become 
a certainty, he will strike. Their lives, their minds, 
are over-organised. Emdens, Mowes, Channel Raiders 
are rare birds in the German psychology. 

I chose the third method of working. 

It was not entirely a matter of choice, either. Since 
I could not, would not, produce convincing proofs of 
German ideas of neutrality — meaning, of course, pro- 
Germanism — and since I refused to give assurances — 
my word of honour — that I would remain in Germany 

1 Except for those who follow the first method, it is absolutely 
essential to know the German language ; if the third method be the 
one you have chosen, you must be able to speak it fluently. I am 
drawing attention to this point, because I think that too much im- 
portance has been attached to impressions and opinions that have 
been brought out of Germany by people who were totally un- 
acquainted with the language. I believe that such a drawback at 
once disqualifies any one from passing an intelligent judgment on 
German affairs of to-day. 



THE VEIL AND THE METHODS 11 

for the duration of the war, I received very little en- 
couragement from German officialdom in my journal- 
istic ambitions. 

Let me record here for the special edification of one 
or two doubting British Thomases (no connection with 
Thomas Atkins, I am relieved to say) who have ques- 
tioned my pro-British sympathies, that I never owned 
one single German pass or permit, neither from the 
General Staff nor from the Foreign Office, during the 
whole period of my German pilgrimage. 

Had it not been for my numerous letters of introduc- 
tion ^ my harvest might have been very scanty. My 
German hosts reckoned without a few items in my 
journalistic armoury — first, my letter of introduction 
to General von Hindenburg, from the General's own 
nephew ; second, a fair knowledge of the German 
character; third, my American journalistic training. 
As John Buchan, in that most delightful story of his 
— " Greenmantle " — says : " You cannot fool the Ger- 
mans, but you can bluff them." And bluff them I did 
to my heart's content, and that, I assure you, is saying 
a lot, because it was a greedy journalistic heart that 
came to Germany. The Hindenburg letter worked like 
a charm ; it proved a veritable golden key that un- 
locked almost every door, even that of General Staffs 
in the field. It acted like a magic carpet that trans- 
ported me from Lodsz to Lille ; from Wilhelmshaven to 
Kiel; from Hamburg to Munich; in fine, from East to 
West and from North to South. It was a pass on 
military trains ; it procured me " express " motor-cars 
in places where it was " Strengstens Verboten " for any 
civilian to show his nose ; it got me out of scrapes that 
even to-day make me feel hot and cold down my spine, 
and, finally, it seemed to open every German mouth 

1 See Chapter II. 



12 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

from Generals down to cooks. Nay, but for the very 
unfortunate accident which occurred in Fleet Street, 
the eflPect of which was reverberated in the Wilhelm- 
strasse, Berlin, it might even have procured me an in- 
vitation to the Palace of Unter den Linden or Potsdam. 

Though many moons have passed, I can still chuckle 
with delight at the various and devious ways I was 
able to bluff the people who are out to bluff the whole 
world. I can still see the incredulous face of Baron 
Mumm von Schwarzenstein, when I swaggered into his 
office one morning and casually mentioned that I had 
just been to see Hindenburg! It was impossible, he 
claimed, simply impossible ; it was " Verboten." He 
thought it was just a piece of " bluff." So it was, 
dear Baron, but not the sort of bluff you thought.^ 

And I can also still see Captain Cammerer's (one of 
Hindenburg's Staff officers ) flabbergasted -» — it's the 
only term that fits — expression, when hardly twelve 
hours after he had telephonically informed General 
Count von Schlieffen that it was " Verboten " for me to 
come to Hindenburg's Headquarters, I appeared before 
him, chaperoned by Hindenburg's personal A. D. C. ! 

By some curious coincidence an old New York col- 
league of mine, Cyril Brown, of the New York Times, 
had been bitten by the " Wanderlust," or should we 
call it " American Joumalitis," about the same time as 
I, only he followed a famous American's advice : " Go 
West, young man, go West." 

Brown actually got inside the Crown Prince's Head- 

1 All the same, that very night a police official by the name of 
Herr Mercier — a namesake of the famous Cardinal — called upon 
me, and invited me to accompany him to the Alexanderplatz 
(Berlin Scotland Yard). There I had to make a full statement 
of how and when and why I had reached Hindenburg's head- 
quarters, etc., etc. Let us hope that it did not get the General 
into trouble! 



THE VEIL AND THE METHODS 13 

quarters and nearly " flagged " the Kaiser's car, with 
the intention of asking the War Lord for an interview. 
When on our return to Berlin Brown and I compared 
notes, we decided that our system was by far preferable 
to the regular, personally-conducted- journalistic-Cook- 
Tours-de-Luxe, by which our more " fortunate " col- 
leagues were regularly permitted to " see " Germany. 

It was American Journalism " as usual," and with a 
vengeance. 

If during mj'^ many and my very unofficial, even clan- 
destine peregrinations through the Fatherland, I un- 
earthed information, impressions and knowledge which 
they will claim is not of a journalistic nature, I disown 
every and any responsibility on that score, but blame 
entirely the German sj^stem of spoon-fed, make-believe, 
sugar-coated journalism. Besides, after a certain in- 
cident, which occurred within a month after m}^ arrival 
in Germany,^ I had an additional incentive. 

But, apart from all that, they had " nothing to 
hide ! " 

Well — noiLS verrons ce que nous verrons! 

1 See Chapter III. 



CHAPTER II 

MY " POINT d'aPPUI " BOMB 

AT the outset I wish to express my most sincere 
thanks to His Excellency the American Ambas- 
sador in Rome, Mr. Thomas Nelson Page, to several 
members of his staff, and to His Excellency the very 
American Ambassador in Berlin, Judge Gerard. All I 
can say is that their assistance is as deeply appreciated 
as it has been welcome and valuable. 

Mr. Page, whom I have known for several years in 
America, and whom I interviewed on various occasions, 
furnished me with warm personal recommendations to 
the British Ambassador, Sir Rennell Rodd; to the 
German Envoy, Prince von Biilow, and to Baron Mac- 
chio, who was then Austrian Ambassador in Rome. 

When I presented my credentials to Judge Gerard in 
Berlin, he made me feel at home at once by inquiring 
after the health and welfare of " Bob," my faithful 
dog-friend of twelve years' standing. Judge Gerard, 
although not a personal acquaintance of mine, had 
known of my work in America, and he passed me on to 
various German officials. I feel almost tempted to 
include in this preamble of thanks Prince von Biilow, 
his able private secretary. Dr. Friederich, and Herr 
von Hindenburg, first secretary of the German Em- 
bassy in Rome at the time, for their many valuable 
letters of introduction to prominent German officials. 
But perhaps they would not appreciate it! 

I spent many an interesting, instructive and enter- 
taining hour at the Villa Malte — Prince Billow's Ro- 

14 



MY " POINT D'APPUI "— ROME 15 

man residence; at the Palazzo Gaffarelli, the German 
Embassy, and in various other German haunts in Rome. 

Neutrality these days is frequently, like morality, 
very much a matter of geography. The saying, 
" When in Rome do as the Romans do," had in those 
pre-Italian war days lost its meaning. I must admit 
that I was often at a loss to know what the Romans 
themselves were doing. 

It goes without saying that frequently extremely 
delicate and difficult situations developed. I was sub- 
jected to many keen cross-examinations; many feelers 
were thrown out to ascertain on which side of the quarrel 
my sympathies really lay. But I maintained my 
neutrality. Often it was a case of out-diplomating the 
diplomats. I discoursed many a time on the three years 
I had spent in Germany as a student, saying how " un- 
vergesslich " (unforgettable) they were — which was 
quite true ; I praised their army as one of the great- 
est and most perfect organisations in the world. I 
made much of their music, etc. ; in fact I assiduously 
brought in all the subjects on which I could converse 
with a certain amount of admiration. 

I stood the preliminary test ! I had proved myself 
sufficiently neutral, and therefore I should be given all 
possible assistance to enable me to obtain in Germany 
material for — " Articles of the right sort ! " — as one 
of my letters of introduction described it. H'm! I 
thought, our ideas might differ somewhat on the defini- 
tion of the " right sort." 

German-like, they did things thoroughly. Every 
German I met offered to give me a letter. I had no 
illusion that this was because they were anxious to help 
me, but because they thought I could help them. After 
three weeks I left Rome with over thirty letters of in- 
troduction to many prominent Germans, almost from 



16 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

the Kaiser downwards. It was more than hinted to me 
that through those letters I might even obtain an 
audience with the War Lord. 

Anyhow, the list was important and interesting, if 
only on account of its heterogeneous composition. 

First, there came several official introductions to the 
Foreign Office, to Herr von Jagow, to Herr Zimmer- 
man, to Baron Mumm von Schwarzenstein. Then there 
was a letter to Matthias Erzberger, leader of the 
Catholic Centrum Party in the Reichstag, chief of the 
International Press Bureau, and late German Press 
Agent (manipulator would be a better word) in Italy, 
and a man closely connected with the Kaiser. There 
were also letters to General von Hindenburg, von Below 
and von Beseler, all from personal relatives (of the 
generals; not mine, please). There was a letter to 
Herr Arthur von Gwinner, probably Germany's great- 
est financial genius, Director-Manager of the Deutsche 
Bank, and the man behind the Bagdad Railroad scheme. 
To Herr Krupp von Bohlen, and to one of his greatest 
technical experts, Herr Direktor Doktor Ehrens- 
berger ; ^ to the Secretary of the Colonies, Solf, and 
to his amusing firebrand A.D.C., Dr. Biicher ; to Count 
von Hertling, the Bavarian Minister of Foreign Af- 
fairs ; to the Governor of Strassburg, Baron von Stein ; 
to Dr. Walther Rathenau, Germany's raw-material 
genius ; to His Excellency the Lord Mayor of Berlin, 
Herr Wehrmuth; to Professor Francke, head of the 
Bureau of Social Economics ; to Dr. Michaelis, Dr. 
Zimmerman and Dr. Mantler, chief editors respectively 
of the Berliner Tagehlatt, the Berliner LoJcal Anzeiger, 

1 It is interesting to note that this specialist accompanied Herr 
Krupp on his sight-seeing trip through English shipyards and 
war-material factories about six weeks before the outbreak of 
war. 







3 t -s-t 



H J "S "S 
s ? ? 



gt*- 



"^ 



MY « POINT D'APPUI "— ROME 17 

and the notorious " Wolff News Agency " ; to General 
Baron von Nagel, chief of the Bavarian General Staff; 
to Major Deutelmoser, chief of the Press Bureau of 
the General Staff; to Capitan-Leutnant Lohlein, of the 
" Marineamt " ; and to a number of lesser lights at 
the Admiralty, the War Office and the General Staff. 

Quite a respectable list, I should think, to serve as 
a working basis for an ambitious journalist thirsting 
for knowledge! 

I should like to state that the majority of inter- 
views and opinions I have quoted in the following pages 
represent the ideas of Germans who were in close touch 
with actual conditions, with the " powers that be," and, 
several of them, even with the Emperor himself. 

I am of the opinion that most of the ideas they ex- 
pressed they honestly believed to be true, however ab- 
surd this may seem from our point of view. Finally, 
I must reluctantly admit that several of the predictions 
that were made to me have come true. Amongst these 
are the repulse of the Russian armies, the unsuccessful 
attempt to force the Dardanelles, the failure of the 
Bagdad advance, the forcing of the road to Constan- 
tinople, and several others. On the other hand, many 
of them proved wrong, such as the capture of Calais, 
the separate peace with Russia (to be preceded by a 
revolution); that England would never submit to con- 
scription ; that Italy could and would be bought off. 
Amongst those that are still on the knees of the gods 
(and also, let us hope, at the point of British bayonets) 
are the prophecies that : " The Allies will never drive 
the Germans out of Belgium ; that the Russians will 
never drive the Germans back over the Vistula, and that 
the Turks will henceforth remain inseparably connected 
with Germany and Austria." 

Already in 1915 many well-informed Germans admit- 



18 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

ted to me that Germany could not win, but they main- 
tained that, on the other hand, she would not lose 
either, except of course such losses as naturally fall 
to the lot of all nations engaged in a war of such mag- 
nitude. Among the sayings most frequently and con- 
fidently quoted were the Chancellor's words: 
" Germany cannot be destroyed." 



CHAPTER III 

" THE ADDER " 

"If you see an adder, and you know it is an adder, leave it 
alone, unless you're certain you can kill it." — (My Nurse.) 

I HAVE already stated that I entered Germany with 
as open a mind as possible, and in that spirit I 
commenced my mission. 

But, alas ! it is difficult, in some cases impossible — 
as in mine — to remain for long in Germany as a purely 
objective observer. 

One incident suddenly changed my whole attitude, 
my intentions, and the entire object of my mission. It 
made me forget almost completely that I was a neutral 
journalist. I only remembered that I was dealing with 
. . . adders. 

But let me record the incident that so affected my 
future line of action. 

One night, during my third week in Berlin, I met at 
the American Bar of the Adlon Hotel, where I was 
staying, a certain Baron Hochwachter. In my chap- 
ter on " Spies and Spying " I shall have something more 
to say about this " gentleman." He was a lieutenant 
in one of the crack Prussian Guard regiments. Until 
August 4th, 1914, he was would-be director of the 
Daimler Motor Works (of Stuttgart) in London. 

For the last ten years I have seen Hochwachter in 
various parts of the globe. I saw him regularly dur- 
ing the season at the best London hotels ; I have seen 
him driving in the Bois de Boulogne and found him at 
the Grand Hotel in Rome. I have seen him in almost 
every place on the Riviera that I ever spent a winter 

19 



20 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

in, and I have come across him on Fifth Avenue, New 
York. 

I always put him down as one of those amateur globe- 
trotters, the kind of man who lives solely to have a 
good time. I know better now. 

The topic — a favourite one at 2 a. m. — was Spies 
and Spying. Hochwachter was in very convivial spir- 
its, and . . . getting worse. 

" Bah ! " he sneered, " of all countries England is 
the easiest and, at the same time, the most pleasant 
in which to carry on ' military research work.' " (Note 
the scientific term for spying!) 

I thought it good policy to contradict him, and I got 
my rise. He lifted his champagne glass, winked at me 
with one sodden eye, and smilingly said : " Cherchez 
la femme ! Prosit. Here's to them." 

Then he proceeded to give details. Notwithstanding 
his condition, he gave us with diabolical cleverness a 
dissertation on English " Home and Family Life." He 
described how in England more than in any other coun- 
try, the wife has the confidence of her husband, and 
shares the secrets of his affairs, no matter whether 
they be legal, political, diplomatic, naval and military, 
or commercial. 

" Hah ! " he laughed ; " it's a matter of ' mobilising 
the ladies,' my friend, always the ladies." 

It amounted to this, that Englishwomen were often 
made the innocent dupes and accomplices of the Ger- 
man spy, who enters their homes as an honoured guest 
or friend. 

No, dear reader, I did not break the fellow's neck, 
I did not even knock him down, or call him a damned 
blackguard and cur. 

But I did better than all three. 



"THE ADDER" 21 

Then and there I took a solemn, silent oath. There, 
in front of the bar at the Adlon Hotel, Berlin, I swore 
that I would avenge English womanhood, English 
" Home and Family Life," if it took me a lifetime to 
do it. I vowed that before I was through with Ger- 
many — never with the Germans — come what may, I 
should know a bit more about their despicable, low, 
dastardly system of espionage. I constituted myself 
an unofficial investigator of the whole rotten German 
fabric of spying and lying. 

But since there is hardly any German sphere which 
is not permeated with the espionage canker ; since there 
is hardly any German class that is not doing its share 
in spying, in one form or another, I naturally found 
out many interesting and valuable details, which, as a 
foreign journalist, I had no business to know. 

But the responsibilit}^ of that rests with the Germans 
and the German system. Oh, I know that I ran many 
risks, and my task was often unpleasant ; but whenever 
I weakened in my resolution, or felt certain qualms 
about some of the things I had to say or do, I merely 
recalled: " Mobilisation of the Ladies," for " Deutsch- 
land iiber Alles," and that never failed to give me 
strength, courage and determination. 

" Well, nurse, I did not leave it alone, neither did I kill it, but I 
learned the dickens of a lot about adders." 



CHAPTER IV 

GERMAN MIND AND CHARACTER 

I HAVE followed with a great deal of interest the 
various phases of the alien enemy question in this 
country. Your perfect confidence in gratitude, one of 
the greatest, if not the greatest, of human qualities, 
seems to me little short of marvellous. The French 
have a saying : " Tout comprendre c'est tout par- 
donner " ; but they soon found out that that was a 
peace-time motto, not very practical in war-time. 
They have changed it now (in so far as it applies to 
Germans) into: "To understand all is to intern all." 

But, then, of course the French know a bit more 
about the Germans than you do. 

I have no intention of setting up as a psychological 
or philosophical expert, but I will endeavour to sketch 
for your benefit a few of the main traits of the German 
character, upbringing, teaching, and of ideas of " play- 
ing the game." 

I will not enter here into the " whys " and the 
" wherefores," but it is a sad, though true, fact that 
the majority of people in this country are hopelessly 
ill-informed about Germany. 

The Kaiser is to-day the most popular idol in Ger- 
many, not even excepting Hindenburg. The confidence, 
the trust in him, is so general, so deep and so intense, 
that if Germany should from now on be steadily pushed 
back ; if she were to lose every battle and be beaten to 
her knees, it would increase rather than weaken his 

22 



GERMAN MIND AND CHARACTER 23 

popularity and the love his subjects have for him. It 
takes more than books on Germany, more than the 
vivid stories of war correspondents and " expert " 
articles by " famous " strategists, to make you under- 
stand the fanatical spirit of patriotism by which the 
German mind is imbued and obsessed. It is as un- 
fathomable as the spirit of religion. From the moment 
that it is properly kindled, it is the most intense, the 
most sincere emotion they possess. According to their 
creed it is not necessary to live, but the first duty of all 
is to be ready to lay down your life for the Fatherland. 
Nothing matters ; only the Fatherland counts. You 
may murder, steal, spy, cheat — it does not matter if 
it is for the Fatherland, The end sanctifies all means. 

I have talked, since the war, to hundreds of Germans 
of all classes, from the highest to the lowest, and one 
feeling is common to them all, viz. : Confidence, abso- 
lute confidence and trust in their leaders. Every one 
feels a certain responsibility, feels that he would en- 
danger the interests of the Fatherland by not doing his 
bit, the particular work he has been assigned to carry 
out, whatever that may be. While I was with the 
Belgian army I read a letter found on a dead German 
private, written by his mother. The concluding sen- 
tence was : " But we must not complain. The Father- 
land has called, and we must give our all and our best 
ungrudgingly, and God will give us solace and strength 
to bear whatever the costs, whatever the sorrows may 
be. Be brave, my son, and God bless you ! " 

That spirit of patriotism and of confidence is a 
mighty factor to reckon with, and should not be over- 
looked. 

This brings me to the question of the German at 
large in this country. With a few exceptions, as, for 
instance, those cases in which well-known Britishers, of 



U BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

good standing, would go bail without reserve for the 
particular individuals in question, I should say, from 
personal knowledge of the German character, intern or 
repatriate them all. Pass an Act of Parliament can- 
celling all naturalisations from a certain date, if neces- 
sary ; but, whatever you decide, show the Germans that 
you are master in your own house. It seems a tall 
statement to make, but it is, nevertheless, a fact that 
several high-placed Germans have told me that the Brit- 
ish Government would not dare to interfere with certain 
Germans (naturalised or otherwise) in this country, 
because they know so much that they could upset the 
whole political apple-cart. 

I will concede that internment or repatriation would 
be hard, very hard on many of them ; but is it not better 
to be hard, even unjust, to the enemy than to risk 
your own countrymen and women .? Is it not better to 
intern ninety-nine innocent Germans and thereby make 
certain of the hundredth, who is guilty.? But even 
about that injustice you need not feel many qualms. 
I have always maintained, and I do so now after several 
months spent in Germany, that every German is a po- 
tential spy. It is not in his character, it is his charac- 
ter. It lies in the Nietzschian doctrines in which he 
has been sedulously trained from early childhood. 
" Win, win, win ! " " Work for the Fatherland al- 
ways 1 " " Win, no matter by what means, but win ! " 
*' It is your duty ! " Naturalisation is only a means to 
an end. The terms " Play the game," or " Play fair," 
at least as we understand them, are foreign to him. 
Everything is fair play to him, in peace as well as in 
war, as long as it means the good of the Fatherland. 

That is the creed, the spirit which enables Germany 
to flood every country in peace-time with an army of 
spies. Her espionage system is a national institution. 



GERMAN MIND AND CHARACTER 25 

It is based upon the national character and the national 
creed. 

So when a German is not serving his country, not 
doing his duty — i.e., while at large in an enemy coun- 
try, not tr3'ing to spy or in other ways working for the 
Fatherland — do not flatter yourself that it is from 
a sense of loyalty or of gratitude towards his adopted 
country, or from his ethical sense of duty as between 
host and guest. A thousand times no. It is for two 
reasons only that he will neglect his creed, his duty to 
the Fatherland: 1. Lack of opportunity; 2. Lack of 
leadership, with its consequent fear for his own skin. 

Some wag once said that lack of opportunity was 
responsible for a great deal of virtue. Substitute 
" loyalty " for " virtue," and you have the German 
case. Nothing but lack of opportunity is responsible 
for this so-called " loyalty " to England. 

Let us examine the second reason, viz., personal 
cowardice. Courage, bravery — in the British sense of 
the word — is rare, exceedingly rare, in the German. 
Fanaticism is far from being courage. The German 
quality is of a very diff^erent brand — it is " mass 
courage " ; perhaps " plural courage " would be a bet- 
ter term. Isolate a German, meet him alone, discon- 
nect him from any intercourse with his fellow-country- 
men, and I think you will find him meek, quiet, gentle, 
sentimental ; in short, quite easy to manage, whether 
to lead or to drive. As I point out in another chap- 
ter, when he is alone he will sing sentimental love and 
slumber songs. But put two of them together, no 
matter where, whether at the North Pole, in Central 
China, in the Argentine, in free America, or in the heart 
of England, and there will be plotting and scheming. 
Two terminals of the German patriotic current meet 
and combustion follows. The Fatherland calls^ the 



26 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Fatherland comes first. The courage of two Germans 
is not merely the courage of the one plus the courage 
of the second; it is a multiplication sum rather than 
an addition. Deeds which he would have trembled to 
think of, let alone carry out, while he was a single indi- 
vidual, he will plan with his compatriot, and the fear 
of being considered by the other a false patriot, a bad 
German, will overcome a great deal of physical fear. 
Now he sings : " Deutschland, Deutschland uber 
Alles " ; or another great favourite : " I am a Prus- 
sian ; knowest thou my colours." (Pray God you never 
will!) 

Moral: Keep them sequestrated, keep them out of 
temptation's way, because, as sure as fate, they can, 
in Oscar Wilde's words, " resist everything but tempta- 
tion " when it comes to serving the Fatherland. 

You might just as well try to teach a wolf the in- 
stincts (mind you, I say " instincts," not manners or 
tricks) of a pet lamb, than expect by mere surround- 
ings, precept, or example, to imbue a German with the 
principles and instincts of English life and character. 

Not even your famous Dr. Johnson's remark about 
Scotchmen, with whom — so he says — you can do a 
lot " If caught young," applies here. 

No truer line was ever written or spoken than: 

" Once a German, always a German." 



CHAPTER V 

GERMAN PSYCHOLOGY 

A GERMAN'S conception of psychology is based 
too much on the obvious — i.e., what thei/ con- 
sider obvious. Their everlasting rules and regulations, 
their " Verboten " at every turn, combined with that 
respect for the law, and love of authority which is 
bred in the bone of every good Prussian, have made 
certain grooves in the Hun brain, certain parallel lines 
of thought, which, once you have traced them, are 
easy to follow. The wonderful German system is only 
perfect and wonderful because it is used and practised 
by, and created for, Germans. Its value is, I think, 
greatly over-rated. 

If the notice " Verboten " appears on any door, 
passage, lawn, railway train, church, or anything else, 
then in nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of a 
thousand it is unnecessary to take any further safe- 
guards. Why.!^ Because the German Government, 
the German authorities, have as much confidence in 
popular respect for the law as the people have in the 
authorities being justified in making these restrictions. 
Not once, but a hundred times, have I been able to 
test this mental attitude. A good, law-abiding, re- 
spectable German citizen will not dream of passing 
through that door, gate, field, or step into that railroad 
train. 

" Yes, sir," I have been told dozens of times by 
Germans, " we admit that the authorities think for us, 
but they have always thought for the best. All this 

talk about the iron fist is nonsense. You foreigners 

27 



28 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

notice only the regularity, the number of restrictions 
placed on our daily life. We Germans are brought up 
with them, and, what is most important, we believe in 
them. Our government is a government of experts. 
In every department we have only the best, the highest 
experts that can be got, and neither money nor position 
can save the man if he is inefficient. Confidence, my 
dear sir, is the great secret of German success." I then 
asked him: 

" And what would the people think of their leaders 
if the end of this war should bring disaster to Germany, 
should prove her partial destruction ? What would the 
people do.'' Would they not come to the conclusion 
that they had been misled, deceived by their govern- 
ment, their leaders, their newspapers ? " 

His answer was classic, indeed, typical of the Ger- 
man, I should say, of the Prussian mind, the Prussian 
creed, the Prussian faith: 

" Ah, I know what you are thinking of, the question 
so prominently discussed in the enemy press, of a revo- 
lution in Germany. How little they know the German 
mind! Let me illustrate my answer by taking a hypo- 
thetical case. You are a sportsman — a fencer, I take 
it. Suppose you have a friend living somewhere in 
the country who is a crack shot, a great sportsman. 
He is very popular amongst his friends. One night 
several rufiians sneak up to his house, to rob it, and 
steal his hard-earned belongings. Your friend goes 
out and shoots several of his attackers, but, instead of 
diminishing, their number grows and grows. He is 
surrounded on all sides and finally beaten to his knees. 
Mind you, it is not a fight of man to man, but of many 
— sey, ten against one. Would you lose confidence in 
his prowess as an expert shot.? Would you not still 
readily choose him to represent you, your club, your 



^ttgcmeinc QBcf)r|)ftirf)t in Snglonb 







■/ 

I 







Conscription in England 
John Bull It'drniitf/ Die (Honxc Steji 



GERMAN PSYCHOLOGY 29 

regiment at the sporting competitions? Would you 
turn him out because he was beaten when surrounded 
and attacked on all sides? That is Germany's case. 
Do you think the people are going to blame the govern- 
ment if we should be unable to conquer England, France, 
Russia, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro, Japan, Belgium, 
Portugal, Rumania? No, sir! The people know; 
they are absolutely convinced that our enemies forced 
us to fight, and nothing, no matter what may be the 
outcome of this terrible struggle, can change that con- 
viction. Ask any man, from the highest to the lowest, 
ask any woman, be she duchess or charwoman, ask any 
child at school, all and sundry will tell you that we are 
only fighting because we had to, to protect hearth and 
home. And a united nation, sir, cannot be destroyed ! " 

My inforaiant was not trying to throw sand in my 
eyes ; he was not one of the bombastic, overbearing type 
of German. He spoke carefully and slowly, and I 
know that he meant every word he said. 

Such is the Prussian creed of to-day. 

The moment the wheel of fortune goes against Ger- 
many (not economically, but strategeticall}', i.e., on the 
field of battle), the Government will cry "Enough," 
and it will say to the German people : " We have done 
all we could, and no man can do more" And the Ger- 
man people will answer, Yea and Amen, and will whis- 
per: " Es muss sein " (" It has to be "). 

But I have wandered far from the " Verboten " sign 
and the convolutions of a German's brain. 

If any one is seen on the other side of that door, in 
that field, or on that train — why, it never occurs to 
any ofiicial that he is a trespasser, that he has ignored 
the command, broken the law. " What good German 
would do that ! " " Of course," so he argues, " that 



30 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

man must have excellent authority to be where he is, 
otherwise he would not be there." 

I wonder if you realise of what inestimable advantage 
it is to a journalist to know that side of the German 
mind? I have made use of that knowledge in the three 
months that I spent in Germany again and again, and 
it has never failed me. I have been to Kiel, I have 
walked along the shores of Kiel Bay. I have travelled 
down the Elbe, have talked to the Canal officials. I 
travelled from Berlin to the German Eastern Head- 
quarters to see Hindenburg, yet I never owned a single 
pass or permit, or any other authorisation to enter the 
lines of communication. IBeing where I was, they were 
taken for granted. I have travelled on military trains, 
I have passed scores of sentries and guards with loaded 
rifles. I took photographs in all parts of Germany. 

I was challenged once by General Count von Schlief- 
fen in AUenstein, who, after he found that I had no per- 
mit, sent me back to Berlin — i.e., he told me to go 
back. He did not think it necessary to see that I 
went. It was " Verboten " to go on ; therefore, to his 
German mind, that was synonymous with going back. 
I did no such thing, but travelled in exactly the opposite 
direction ! 

I should like to see the journalist, no matter whether 
English, French, or neutral, trying that little game in 
the British or French lines ! Oh ! la ! la ! I could tell 
many sad tales on that score, several from personal 
experience. 

I remember one melancholy occasion when I tried to 
get into Ypres without the usual batch of Belgian, Brit- 
ish and French permits. I did not get within ten miles 
of it, and I vowed after that experiment : " Never 
again ! " 



CHAPTER VI 

THE PRESS IN GERMANY 

INTRODUCTION 

"This war might have been prevented if Germany, instead of 
gagging our Press, had allowed it to become the organ of sound 
public opinion, edited, as in all other modern states, by competent 
and educated men." — Herr Crass, Krupp's Representative in 
Berlin, in an interview. 

I CANNOT do better by way of introduction to my 
article on German Press matters, than to quote 
here a story which was frequently related to me in Ger- 
many as a joke on German Press enterprise. 

I must explain first that in international journalistic 
circles it is no secret that the main impedimenta of a 
German editor are a pair of scissors and a pot of 
paste. The story told here goes a long way to prove 
it. 

A sub-editor, who had only recently been put in 
charge of the editorial department of one of the larger 
Berlin dailies, was reading up some of the old 1870-71 
war despatches, probably to glean how to write a real- 
istic battle-scene. It was during the fighting near 
Soissons. The young editor goes out to lunch and 
leaves one of the old clippings on his desk. Soon after 
the printer's foreman goes into the editorial offices and 
finds this cutting. 

" It's awful," he exclaims, " how careless these young 
editors are nowadays. Here is a first-rate story, and 
he calmly goes out to lunch and lets it wait till after 
dinner." Whereupon the man sets to work, writes the 
headlines, edits it, and makes it fit for the press. Half 

31 



82 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

an hour later Berlin gasps at the latest war news, which 
announces : 

" The Battle of Metz. In the battles already re- 
ferred to near Metz and the Vosges, the French lost 
in prisoners alone 173,000 men and 4,000 officers, in- 
cluding three Field-Marshals, one of them being Field- 
Marshal Bazaine." 

Now we know from where those wonderful German 
figures of enemy losses emanate. 

The Press 

The first thing you do after your arrival in Berlin is 
to ask your Ambassador for an introduction to His 
Excellency Baron Mumm von Schwarzenstein, of the 
Foreign Office; the second is to present that introduc- 
tion, together with your passports, letters, and every 
possible recommendation you can scrape together. The 
German, especially the German official, loves pomp and 
circumstance, and the more big names you can trump 
up the deeper he bows to you. 

Baron Mumm, suave in manner and speaking English 
perfectly, reminds one very much of Lord Haldane. 
He examines your credentials and then asks what he 
can do for you. You state your case, and, if you are 
lucky, some of the privileges you have asked for will 
come your way in, say, three or four months' time — 
i.e., the period it takes to " graduate." 

Somebody I know very well followed a different pro- 
cedure. In answer to Baron Mumm's question of what 
he could do for him, this young man boldly answered: 
" Your Excellency, I have come here to offer to do 
something for you — for Germany. Your papers have 
been complaining about the false reports with regard 
to the Germans and Germany, circulating in the Euro- 
pean and American Press. I have the honour to pre- 



THE PRESS IN GERMANY 33 

sent myself to you as the special ambassador, jour- 
nalistically speaking of course, of the Kingdom of 
Truth." 

It was, indeed, a novel way of asking for privileges, 
and it actually tickled that very elusive thing — the 
sense of humour of a German official ; nevertheless, our 
young friend had to wait his appointed place in the 
queue, till he took the law into his own hands. 

As I said, you must " graduate." The course varies 
from two to four months, unless you become a sub- 
scriber to the " Bribery Association (Unlimited)," with 
headquarters at the Hotel Adlon.^ 

During that time you have to prove beyond any 
doubt on which side of the fence you are. Perhaps you 
are American or Dutch; therefore "neutral"? Ah, 
no, my friend ; " das gibts nicht." As the farmer said 
when he saw a giraffe for the first time : " There is no 
such animal." Neutral, indeed ! No, sir ; " who is not 
with us is against us." (Let me state at once that I 
did not graduate.) 

In order to graduate you must have trained yourself 
until you have reached a degree of perfection in the art 
of " strafing." It is not sufficient to be able to mutter 
parrot-like : " Gott strafe England," or to recite 
Lissauer's H^^mn of Hate forwards and backw^ards. 
No, at all times of the day and night you must be ready 
to answer the greeting (now de rigueur in Germany) : 
"Gott strafe England," with an immediate: " Er 
strafe es " ("May He punish it"). In the morning 
when you get up, before you begin to think of bath or 
breakfast, you say to whoever may be with you: 
" Gott strafe England ! " If you happen to be alone, 
you can shout it down the telephone, and you will 
promptly receive the reply, made with great ferocity 

1 See Chapter VIII. 



34 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

or sweetness, as the case may be, but always with en- 
thusiasm : " Er strafe es ! " 

From all one hears and reads these days, one would 
gain the impression that Germany is a very paradise 
for neutral journalists. 

" You can go anywhere you like, and see all you want 
to see in Germany," so I was told in neutral countries. 

We have been reading for months past of the inter- 
esting and exclusive material German and neutral 
journalists are obtaining in the Vaterland: Prominent 
interviews; graphic battle stories; little pleasure jaunts 
on big war-ships in the North Sea, etc., etc. 

How are all these " newsbeats " obtained, and what 
is at the bottom of these skilful journalistic enter- 
prises? Let me say at once that it took very little 
journalistic enterprise or effort to obtain most of the 
interviews and other important stories emanating from 
German quarters. 

I can best illustrate my point by quoting a conversa- 
tion which I had one evening at the Hotel Adlon in 
Berlin, with Professor Stein, associate editor of the 
Vossische Zeitung. It took place during the early part 
of my visit to Germany. I was trying to sound the 
Professor about any possible prospective victims to be 
interviewed. I referred to the prolific harvest Ameri- 
can journalists had reaped since the beginning of the 
war, and expressed the hope that there might still be 
some virgin ground left for me to till. Here is the 
Professor's answer, which I quote almost verbatim: 

" The interviews with the Crown Prince, the Crown 
Princess, Admiral von Tirpitz, von Moltke, the German 
Chancellor, General von Bernhardi, and many others, 
were merely political moves on the great chess-board 
of war. They were, every one of them, carefully 
thought and mapped out beforehand, and in most cases 



THE PRESS IN GERMANY 35 

the finished article, translated and typewritten, was 
handed over to the ' interviewer ' — i.e., to the man who 
represented those papers which would give the ' inter- 
view ' the greatest publicity. Needless to say, that he 
must practically guarantee beforehand that it would be 
printed without alterations or corrections of any kind 
whatever. I myself arranged the interview with Gen- 
eral von Moltke. The American journalist received 
his interview, written out, ready for mail or cable. 
Now I believe that you will meet with great difficulties, 
not to say insurmountable obstacles, if you think that 
you will be able to interview important people in Ameri- 
can style. When in Berlin you have to do as the 
Germans do. In other words, to accept their written 
statements, and promise to use them in their original 
form. If you are willing to accept those conditions, 
I shall be glad to help you in every way. Other inter- 
views will be distributed now and again when considered 
timely and judicious. In Germany we do not under- 
stand, and, to be honest, do not like the aggressive, 
independent methods American journalists employ to 
gain their ends. Their system may be all right in 
America, but you'll find that it does not work here." 
So far the Professor. 

Among the many incidents which came to my notice, 
illustrating " how Germany makes interviews," one was 
related to me by Mr. Gaffney (an Irishman, by the 
way), at the time American Consul-General in Munich. 
During January, 1915, when the arrest of Cardinal 
Mercier was very much en evidence, an interview was 
arranged with the Archbishop of INIunich. The Ameri- 
can reporter who was sent from Berlin to Munich did 
not speak a word of German, and the Archbishop felt 
the same about English. But what matter! The in- 



36 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

terview was typewritten and ready before the reporter 
arrived in Munich. An interesting detail about this 
bit of journalism was that to guard against "mis- 
takes " and doctoring, a copy of the original interview 
was kept in the archives of the American Consulate at 
Munich. Whether the duties of Consuls include the 
supervision of " interviews made in Germany " it is not 
for me to say; but I do know that Mr. GafFney took 
more than a " neutral " interest in German journal- 
ism. He bitterly complained that most of the London 
correspondents of American papers were English- 
men! 

" This system of granting interviews," explained 
Baron Mumm, " has many advantages. Above all, 
it excludes the danger of those journalistic pitfalls — 
misquotations. If Lord Kitchener had followed the 
German system with Mr. Cobb, the American journalist, 
much trouble and unpleasantness might have been saved 
to both." 

It appears that early in the war one or two over- 
enterprising American reporters had the disagreeable 
habit of asking officials embarrassing, nay, often im- 
pertinent questions, which were awkward to answer, 
and would have caused still more embarrassment if left 
unanswered. With the usual German eye for system 
a cure was quickly found. 

Independent journalists, educated in the American 
school, have little chance of bagging big game in Ger- 
many. 

Well, qui vivra, verra. 

Here is a dictum which a fellow-journalist supplied 
me with in Berlin, the adoption of which would provide 
me with a short cut to journalistic success: 

^^ Write your articles so that every one is suitable for 



THE PRESS IN GERMANY 37 

reprint in pamphlet form by the German Government, 
for the purpose of distribution abroad." 

I may add that I declined the honour. Knowing that 
it would be waste of time to write articles for foreign 
consumption giving my real impressions, I simply re- 
frained from writing any at all, and contented myself 
with making notes. 

My personal experiences of the " made-in-Germany " 
variety of interviews are limited to two, viz., with the 
Secretary for the late German Colonies, Dr. Solf, and 
with the notorious Herr Erzberger, Germany's Inter- 
national Press agent, and member of the Reichstag. 
But in the latter case I obtained an audience and inter- 
view later on, which was not of the German brand. 

When you present your credentials at the General 
Staff (Presse Abteilung — i.e.. Press Department), the 
first thing you are told is : " We have nothing to hide. 
All we ask of you is that you write the truth." 

Solemnly you mumble : " The truth, the w hole truth, 
and nothing but the truth." But wait. The truth.? 
Yes, but you must look at it through spectacles " made 
in Germany." The whole truth.? Ah, no; that's 
quite a different pair of shoes. 

To give an example. I was naturally most anxious 
to visit Belgium, and especially the Grand Duchy of 
Luxembourg, where I have relations. For a week or 
two I was put off with promises of " very soon," etc. 
Then followed excuses. The General Staff was hiding 
behind the Foreign Office, and vice versa. How many 
times have I travelled the road between 76, Wilhelm- 
strasse, and the Konigsplatz .? I do not know. All I 
can say is that the orderlies at the General Staff began 
to take me for an attache, for I was frequently left at 
large in the building without the usual chaperon of a 
soldier. 



38 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

I was told that Luxembourg was on one of the most 
important lines of communication. That practically 
all the roads leading there were used exclusively for 
military transports, and that I would probably have a 
long and tedious journey of several days' duration, etc. 
I assured them that I did not in the least mind the dis- 
comforts of the trip. My protestations were, how- 
ever, of no avail. 

The most ludicrous of all the excuses was brought 
forward one afternoon by a captain from the War 
Office. (I say " afternoon " advisedly. I may add it 
was tea-time and he was drinking tea. ) " You see," 
he explained, " you would come on the lines of com- 
munication of the Crown Prince's army. It seems that 
in that region especially a great deal of American am- 
munition, which, by the way, is very much more effective 
than the French article, has been used by the French. 
Now don't you see that if it becomes known that you 
are writing for American papers you might arouse very 
strong antagonism? Of course, we here, and the offi- 
cers of the higher command, understand that America 
has a perfect legal (great emphasis !) right to supply 
ammunition to the Allies, but the common soldier does 
not see things that way. Suppose you meet some of 
those whose friends or relations have been killed by 
American bullets and American shells ? Such people do 
not think when their passions are aroused " {vide Bel- 
gium), " and thus harm might come to you. That, I 
believe, is one of the main reasons for not letting you 
go to Luxembourg." 

I knew better ! They did not want me to go because 
I knew too many people there. A few weeks later, 
when I saw the possibility of obtaining a pass was out 
of the question, I had my little revenge. 

At a certain rather large dinner party, one man, who 



THE PRESS IN GERMANY 39 

knew of some of my Luxembourg connections, leaned 
across the table and said : " Now your friends, the 
Luxembourgers, were more sensible than those stupid, 
hot-headed Belgians. Look at all the money Luxem- 
bourg is making these days ! " 

I knew better than that, and, what's more, I knew 
that he did too. It put my back up, and although it 
was most undiplomatic, I could not resist giving him a 
piece of true information in exchange for his false one. 

" H'm, yes," I replied. " I suppose it was, as you 
say, ' sensible.' You see, our geographical position is 
somewhat unfortunate. We have no pass of Ther- 
mopylae." 

" Pass of Thermopylae? " everybody muttered, look- 
ing puzzled. I was asked to explain. 

" Oh, it's quite simple ! " I continued. " You see 
we, too, have an army one thousand strong, and 
we could also, I have no doubt, find a Leonidas amongst 
them ; but, as I have said — we lack the Pass." 

Tableau! A quick change of subject. 

The Press department of the General Staff keeps in 
close touch with the German newspapers. In a large 
hall of the Reichstag building the chiefs, always assisted 
by both military and naval officers, on leave from active 
service, meet the various editors, sub-editors and cor- 
respondents of most of the German newspapers. These 
assemblies take place three times a week, and their 
object is to bring the work of the Army and Navy in 
closest contact with the men that are largely respon- 
sible for public opinion. Apparently all the cards are 
laid on the table, but it is pointed out to the repre- 
sentatives of the Press that certain details are of a 
confidential nature, and would only serve the enemy if 
published. Needless to say, that only the most plausi- 



^0 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEH. 

ble, the most tip-top fakers are employed at these tri- 
weekly meetings. Foreign correspondents are rigor- 
ously excluded from these family gatherings, but I man- 
aged to borrow the pass of one of the correspondents 
of a provincial Bavarian paper, and attended one meet- 
ing incognito. I will admit quite frankl}'' that I was 
on pins and needles at first, but by keeping discreetly 
in the background I remained undiscovered. I think 
about two hundred pressmen must have been present. 

It was one of the first meetings after the Doggerbank 
battle, in which the Bliicher was sunk. I am not sur- 
prised that the German papers made so much of the 
sinking of the Tiger. The wonderful, clear, " frank " 
and plausible way in which a naval officer, present at 
the battle described it was really extraordinary. He 
himself had seen the Tiger go down. 

He gave a most lucid and apparently convincing 
description of the battle. With sketches, diagrams 
and photographs he illustrated the progress of the fight, 
and he made much of the circumstance that it was 
Admiral Beatty who broke off the engagement. Need- 
less to say, he did not mention that their ships, when 
in retreat, had sown mines indiscriminately in their 
wake. Neither did he mention that the Lion and the 
Tiger were far ahead of the squadron. He made much 
of the question of armament ; he showed that the Seyd- 
litz and the Moltke carried only ten 28 cm. (11 inch) 
guns each, while the Derfflinger was armed with eight 
30 cm. (12 inch) guns. Opposed to them they had 
three battle cruisers, each armed with eight 34 cm. 
(1314 inch) guns, and two battle cruisers armed with 
eight 30 cm. (12 inch) guns. I can still see him writing 
down the figures on the big black-board in the following 
order : 



THE PRESS IN GERMANY 41 

Wir (we). 

20 St.i 28 cm.2 

8 St. 30 cm. 



28 58 

Engldnder. 
24 St. 34 cm. 
16 St. 30 cm. 

40 64 

Thus he impressed on his audience by a simple sum in 
arithmetic the wonderful performance of the German 
gunners in not only holding their own against such 
numerical superiority, but even having succeeded in 
sinking a ship of the Tiger class. This proved conclu- 
sively that in a sea fight no more than in a land battle 
mere numbers are decisive. What about the Blilcher? 
Oh, the poor old Blucher did not count ; she carried 
guns of but 21 cm. (about 8 inch), and her speed was 
barely twenty-four knots. Nevertheless, she gave a 
splendid account of herself, and in her last moments 
took two enemy destroyers with her to the bottom.^ He 
also explained that they were not on a raiding expedi- 
tion, but merely on their usual round of patrolling the 
North Sea. As to the sinking of the Tiger, they had 
the sworn evidence of the various officers of the Moltke, 
Derfflinger and Seydlitz, and of the commander and 
personnel of the Zeppelin that took part in the battle. 

I came away from that meeting with my brain all 

1 St. = Stiick = Piece = Guns. 

2 Cm. := Centimetre := Approx. ^-inch. 

3 No British destroyers were sunk in the Doggerbank Battle. 



4,2 BEHIND THE GERIVIAN VEIL 

awhirl. I did not know what to think. If that naval 
officer, with his diagrams, sketches, photographs, etc., 
was lying — well, I'm hanged if I would ever believe any 
German statement again, even if given on oath, or m 
extremis. Such duplicity seemed impossible. 

Now if that meeting had such an effect upon me, what 
would be the state of mind of a German newspaper man.? 
Why, ninety-nine out of every hundred, if not the whole 
hundred, come away from those meetings time after 
time, solidly convinced that the General Staff has told 
them all there is to tell ; in fact, they begin to feel that 
they are semi-official members of the great brain of the 
German war machine. In that spirit they sit down and 
write their leading articles, and the German reader gets 
the benefit of it. In his well-ordered mind he is satis- 
fied that the authorities are, in very truth, telling him all 
that can safely be made known without prejudice to the 
interests of the Fatherland. 

The authorities are fully aware of his state of mind. 
Of course, in many instances German readers do get the 
truth ; but what of the saying : " Half a truth is worse 
than a lie " .? 

I had a long and very pleasant talk one evening, 
during the latter part of March, with General Count von 
Schlieffen, Commander of the 20th Army Corps, at his 
headquarters in Allenstein. We were talking about 
journalism, comparing German and American methods. 
" Wherein lies the main difference? " the General asked 
me ; adding : " I can see how great it is, but I am unable 
exactly to define it." 

I had gone to Allenstein without the knowledge of the 
General Staff in Berlin, without any pass and without 
permission, so I thought I could make the point clear 
to my host by demonstration : 



THE PRESS IN GERMANY 



43 



" One great difference lies in the manner of collecting 
the news," I said. "A German journalist 'thinks' 
that he writes what he sees ; but, in reality, he only 
writes what the authorities want him to see. An 
American journalist writes as he sees things. Again, 
a German journalist will wait till he is invited to come 
and investigate, while an American will go first, and be 
invited, perhaps, later. You see," I added, smiling, 
" if I had been schooled in the German system I would 
not have the pleasure of this evening with you, but I 
would be sitting in Berlin waiting for another month or 
two for my passes." 

" Yes," he quickly retorted, " and I would not have 
the painful duty of sending you back at once to Berlin." 

The dear old General did send me back — i.e.^ he told 
me to go back, but he must have found out by now 
another little difference between the German and Amer- 
ican systems ! 

To show the world whom Germany is fighting the 
following list has been drawn up : 



Montenegrins 


Gonds 


Rajputs 


Russians 


Senegalese 


Sikhs 


Servians 


Belgians 


Australians 


Turcomans 


Fijis 


Kyberi 


Annamites 


Welshmen 


Tartars 


English 


Zulus 


Usbegs 


French 


Canadians 


Kalmucks 


Scotch 


Irish 


Kerghis 


Japanese 


Portuguese 


Baluchi 


Cossacks 


Italians 


Burmese 


Rumanians 


Basutos 


Yakuts 



Together with the above list is usually sent out a 



44 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

poster entitled, " Brothers of Culture in our Prison 
Camps." 

During Casement's activities in Berlin, the Press De- 
partment (Erzberger) distributed weekly diatribes 
written by Casement and his fellow-renegade Stanhope, 
to American correspondents. 



CHAPTER VII 

BERLIN IMPRESSIONS 

UNLESS you are a deep-dyed Anglo maniac, one 
who has become used to the " tyrannies of the 
British Navy," and other English ways of doing things, 
to venture into Germany these days is tempting Provi- 
dence. You run grave peril of having your immortal 
soul, your heart and your mind converted to German 
ideas of Militarism and " Kultur." 

I have seen the effect of the German atmosphere on 
several of my colleagues within less than two weeks. 
It takes a strong-minded pro-Ally to stand up against 
a continuous procession of " documentary proofs," of 
"who started the war?" of arguments, lectures, 
speeches and literature. Weeks and days and hours, 
permeated with the " Gott mit uns, wir mussen siegen " 
spirit and conversation! 

What I have not heard about the misdeeds, committed 
for the last three hundred years, of " that little Robber's 
Island, off the Coast of Europe, populated by a nation 
of pedlars, whose only code of honour is the £ s. d. 
sign," would be enough to cause any one to blush for 
ever having been associated with such a place and such 
a nation; nay, it would even make a perfectly good 
Englishman swear eternal vengeance at the absent- 
minded stork that dropped him on the wrong side of the 
Channel. 

At the office of the American Consul-General in 
Munich, on the first day of my arrival in Germany, I 
met an Englishwoman, a Miss Welch, a teacher of 

English in some of the schools. Now, I thought, she 

45 



46 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

will no doubt be able to give me some very useful facts ; 
she will tell me where to look for the weak spots in this 
great German machine. So when she left I accom- 
panied her, and the moment we were alone I said: 
" Now, Miss Welch, you can talk quite frankly to me. 
Tell me something about the real conditions here." 
She stared at me with undisguised surprise. " Why," 
she exclaimed, " what do you mean ? Things are ex- 
actly as you see them. I am sure Germany is going 
to win ; nobody can beat this nation. I have nothing 
to complain of. I must report myself twice a day to 
the police, but otherwise I go on the same as before 
the war. I have no trouble at all, and the people are 
in no way unkind to me. Do you know," she added, 
with admiration and respect in her voice, " that in 
all these months I have never seen a drunken soldier in 
the streets or anywhere else ? " 

I do not believe that there is one foreign consul in a 
hundred in Germany to-day who is not absolutely, 
frankly and openly pro-German. " People don't know 
what this country is, what it can do," said the Ameri- 
can Consul-General in Munich, Mr. St. John GafFney, 
to me. " Germany cannot be destroyed because it is 
the most perfectly ruled country in the world, and the 
people are absolutely united." 

Professor FuUerton, an American Exchange Pro- 
fessor of Pennsylvania University, whom I met in 
Munich was strongly pro-German. In the most sin- 
cere, the most convincing manner, he assured me: 
" The Germans are a peace-loving people. There is no 
element in America's population that is more orderly, 
industrious and law-abiding than the German element. 
The German at home has the same characteristics. 
The land is an orderly land, and the population is 
enlightened, disciplined and educated to respect the 



BERLIN IMPRESSIONS 4>7 

law. The rights of even the humblest are jealously 
guarded. The courts are just. The success of the 
Germans is obtained as the result of careful prepara- 
tion and unremitting industry. No one who lives among 
them, and learns to know them, can feel that he has 
to do with an aggressive and predatory people." 

Similar eulogies were launched at me day after day 
by educated neutral people. When even foreigners feel 
so strongly about Germany, it seems to me that the 
chances of a revolution against the present regime are 
very remote, not to say non-existent. 

The whole nation is so bound up with the one institu- 
tion for which they work and live and breathe — the 
Army — whatever sacrifices, whatever changes are de- 
manded they will be carried out as naturally and as 
systematically as the changing of a gear in a motor- 
car. I almost feel inclined to say that war is a natural 
state to them, peace merely a holiday. There are few 
Germans, I believe, who do not look upon the call to 
arms as a natural occurrence that may come any day. 
I forget who it was that said or wrote : " The Army 
is not for Germany, Germany is for the Army." That 
hits the nail on the head. One sees the proof of it 
to-day. Confidence in the strength of their army and 
its leaders is absolute, and their reverence for the 
Kaiser is nothing less than fanatical. I was present at 
a reception the Kaiser got on his return to Berlin from 
a visit to the Eastern front. I was near the Fried- 
richstrasse Station. Never, except perhaps at Ameri- 
can baseball and football matches, have I seen such 
absolutely frenzied crowds as I found that morning. 
The cheering seemed to make the very buildings shake. 
From house to house, from mouth to mouth, rang the 
" Hochs ! " Men threw their hats up in the air, waved 



48 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

their sticks or umbrellas ; women fluttered their hand- 
kerchiefs, and many of them, who had babies, held them 
up that thej, too, might get a glimpse of their Sover- 
eign. Every seat at the windows and on the roofs was 
occupied. The Kaiser, dressed in the simple grey field 
uniform, with the black and white ribbon of the Iron 
Cross in one of his buttonholes, entered his motor-car 
with a quick elastic step, at the same time bowing to left 
and right. His helmet, like that of every soldier and 
oflScer, was covered with the grey material which has 
become the fashionable colour in Germany. 

As I have already tried to describe in previous chap- 
ters, the German, more especially the Prussian, is a 
hard psychological nut to crack. When you are alone 
with him, he is by no means aggressive; in fact, it is 
rather the other way about ; he seems simple and truth- 
ful, as far as his knowledge of truth goes. But lo! 
the moment he forms part of an organisation, however 
small, be it only a gathering of four or five compatriots, 
his whole demeanour, his entire character changes. 
Then it is : " Deutschland, Deutschland iiber Alles ! " 
Collectively they are all, men, women and children, 
certain of victory. Individually, especially amongst 
the educated classes, if you have convinced them that 
what our American friends call " hot air " is unac- 
ceptable currency, the German will admit that every- 
thing has not gone according to plan and programme ; 
that perhaps the landing of a few army corps in Eng- 
land might, owing to unforeseen difficulties, have to be 
temporarily postponed ; and that the Berlin police force, 
which was to have been sent to France to " arrest the 
British Army," might find the job a little too big for 
them. " But," so he will invariably add, no doubt for 
his own encouragement as much as anything else, " they 







55 -i 



BERLIN IMPRESSIONS 49 

can never throw us out of Belgium and Poland." And, 
as an afterthought: "England? With the swift de- 
velopment of air-craft that country is becoming less 
and less an island." 

The Russian danger is considered to be a thing of the 
past. According to some English writers on military 
subjects, Germany was more afraid of her Eastern than 
her Western front. That is a very erroneous impres- 
sion. If the exact figures are ever known, it will be 
proved that Germany had a great many less troops on 
the Eastern front than is generally supposed. I hap- 
pen to know that, in order to mislead the Allies, small 
units of this or that army corps were sent to the East 
to convey the impression that the whole of the corps 
in question had been moved, while in reality the greater 
part remained in the West. 

Hindenburg is, of course, the most popular German 
hero of the day. He is hailed as East Prussia's, and 
now Germany's, deliverer. Confidence in him, and in 
his ability and genius to cope fully with the Russians 
is absolutely unshakable and supreme. Already last 
year it was believed in Germany that there was no longer 
any danger of a real Russian offensive. One of the 
greatest disappointments the Germans have suffered, 
next to the failure to take Paris, is that the Russians 
have held out instead of making a separate peace. 
Amongst the best-informed circles in Berlin, it was 
confidently expected that Russia would give in before 
the end of 1915. 

" And then full steam ahead to the West," was sig- 
nificantly added. All eyes have been centred on the 
West ever since the Battle of the Marn?. The Ger- 
mans know that it is there the decision of this great 
struggle will be reached. " The hated English must 



50 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

be kept in check at all costs," is what you hear daily. 
There is not a higher officer who, if he is honest — 
and I met several who were — will not admit that Ger- 
many has greatly under-rated the strength and effi- 
ciency of the British Army. But invariably they 
add that they have over-rated the strength of the Brit- 
ish Navy. 



CHAPTER VIII 

BERLIN IMPRESSIONS ( CONTINUED) 

THE quickest way to ingratiate yourself with Ger- 
mans these days is to tell hair-raising tales about 
conditions in London. If you have not been there 
since the war began (or perhaps at any other time, 
as was the case with several foreign journalists who 
had much to say on London affairs), so much the bet- 
ter, because then your flights of fancy will be untram- 
melled by mere considerations of facts. Tell them, for 
instance, about the airship panic ! " Zeppelins," you 
explain, " wh)', they have become a regular bogey in 
England ! Such scares as Dick Turpin, Lloyd George, 
the Black Prince, etc., are all out of date now. When 
children are getting too noisy, mother just says: 
' Zepps ! ' and all is quiet. The very dogs in the streets, 
which, so you explain, are almost the only living things 
to be seen at night, at the mere noise of a motor-car 
engine, run howling to cover, with their tails between 
their legs." The halo of grim satisfaction which 
spreads over the German visage encourages you to stiU 
higher flights. 

" After nightfall," you continue, " only the most 
vitally important business can induce a Londoner to 
leave his cellar. You are surprised.'' Why, did you 
not know, then, that the people in London do not live 
in their houses any more.'' The excavation companies 
of England are the only ones that pay any dividends 
nowadays. London has reverted to prehistoric times ; 
it is a city of cave-dwellers." 

No German home is complete without a number of 

51 



52 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

caricatures of Britain. One of the most popular is 
called " Family Life in England." It represents a 
party of women, and about sixteen children of various 
ages from two upwards, seated round the table, in the 
middle of which is a large heap of rifle bullets. The 
family, armed with knives, files, scissors, and all sorts 
of odd kitchen utensils, are labouring away at the 
bullets, transforming them into dum-dums. Under- 
neath it you may read : " In England, too, the women 
at home are making ' love gifts ' for their dear ones in 
the field." The professor whom you are visiting notes 
the interest you show in the drawing. " Clever, isn't 
it ? " he inquires proudly. " Very clever, very clever, 
indeed ! " you reply with alacrity, but with a certain 
thoughtfulness in your voice. " It is so very realistic," 
you continue. " When I was last in London (don't 
forget to mention this with suitable apologies and re- 
grets), I witnessed many similar scenes." 

To show how the authorities and the Press keep the 
fires of " Gott strafe England ! " burning, I have photo- 
graphed a few of the posters and illustrations which 
one may see in any German book-store, at newspaper 
agents, hotels, and in many private houses. The most 
libellous among them are those that refer to the treat- 
ment of German prisoners in England. An illustration 
shows, in succession, the prisoners' " liberty of move- 
ment within a certain circle " ; " well-ventilated and 
light quarters " ; " the food " ; " they are often per- 
mitted to bathe " ; " false war news " ; and, the most 
scurrilous of all, " the slightly wounded receive careful 
medical treatment." 

Another picture shows German prisoners on the 
roofs of prominent buildings in London. Under the 
illustration it reads : " In order to protect public 



BERLIN IMPRESSIONS 53 

buildings from Zeppelin bombs, the roofs have been 
made into prisoners' camps." 

I shall never forget my arrival at the Hotel Adlon. 
It was after dinner, and the first thing I noticed in the 
palm court was a group of eight officers in khaki. I 
can assure you it gave me a surprise, but I soon re- 
covered. They were American military attaches, just 
about to leave for the West. I have heard many funny 
stories about the curious incidents which took place in 
various parts of Belgium when those American officers 
were being shown round. The Belgians, of course, took 
them for British officers, and, seeing them walk and 
ride about free, and being treated with respect by the 
Germans, they naturally concluded that they were the 
advance guard of the " Great Push." Several times 
they were surrounded by a Belgian crowd shouting: 
" Vive I'Angleterre ! " much to their embarrassment, of 
course. At Louvain a troop of street urchins, headed 
by a tall lanky fellow, representing the Crown Prince, 
walked up to the American officers' car, and, with mock 
ceremony, handed over his wooden sword to them. I 
heard that the German authorities considerably cur- 
tailed the Belgian trip of those American officers. The 
situation became too annoying and embarrassing. 

The posters displayed in the various hotels and other 
public places in Berlin were almost as numerous as the 
recruiting appeals in London. Some of the most con- 
spicuous were large yellow announcements about gold, 
urging everybody not to keep it in his possession, but 
to take it to the Reichsbank. It impressed upon you 
that by holding it back you Avere neglecting your duty 
to the Fatherland, and indirectly helping the enemy. 

An appeal signed by General von Wachs, Military 



54* BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Commandant of the Province of Brandenburg, was 
quite a little gem. It was directed at manufacturers 
and other large employers of labour : 

" You cannot do without your employes ? " so it 
ran. " But what if the enemy should invade our 
Fatherland? Then you would be the very first to take 
a forced holiday and close down your works." The 
General wanted all able-bodied men between the ages 
of sixteen and fifty, who were untrained, to come and 
be instructed in the gentle art of defending their coun- 
try. " Do not acquiesce in words but in deeds. Do not 
say ' Yes — but,' say ' Yes — sure ! ' " 

Maps were displayed everywhere. I cannot remem- 
ber having been in any shop, office or private house, 
either in Berlin or in the provinces, where at least one 
large war map, if not several, was not displayed. I 
did not fail to notice that the maps, plans and sketches 
published by English newspapers were very popular. 
One of the first things that struck me was that most of 
the London and Paris dailies were for sale in all first- 
class hotels in the larger German cities I visited. 

It was quite amusing to hear an elderly, red-faced 
and bespectacled German, surrounded by his family, and 
enjoying his evening quart of beer, murdering the 
President's French. He read aloud from the Matin or 
the Figaro, and translated it with a running fire of vitu- 
perative expletives. The London Times is the most 
popular of all foreign papers. The price in Berlin 
was a shilling, but after Germany started the submarine 
blockade it rose to one-and-six, " owing to the great 
difficulty of transport between England and Holland." 
I often received London papers the day after publica- 
tion, but as a rule it took about two days. 

The Adlon Hotel lounge might safely be called one of 



BERLIN IMPRESSIONS 55 

the most interesting spots in all the belligerent coun- 
tries. It was here that men and women of all national- 
ities, creeds, professions and classes foregathered. 
There were the hunters and the hunted ; the active and 
the idle; journalists and journeymen; there were types 
that bore great resemblance to the roast-beef cheeks of 
merry England ; there were Turks in their fez, slim 
Chinamen and robust Americans. Officers of all ranks 
and branches in their uniforms, accompanied by ladies, 
near-ladies and " unfortunate " ladies. All had their 
serious aims, and none trusted the other. 

One of the tables close to the American bar, otherwise 
dubbed " American Headquarters," was permanently 
reserved for " Herr Graf von Hessenstein," a nephew 
of the late General Moltke. We called him " Whisper- 
ing Charlie " for short, because he always had some- 
thing " confidential " to tell you, to whet your appetite 
for more. The " appetizer " was gratis, but if you 
wanted more you had to pay for it. " Whispering 
Charlie " was a source of great amusement to me. His 
transactions stirred up a very nice little hornets'-nest 
between the General Staff and the Berlin Foreign OflSce. 
It appeared, and was conclusively proved, that " Whis- 
pering Charlie " was a dealer in special privileges. If 
a journalist felt neglected Charlie was the doctor — 
for a consideration, of course. An American cinema 
operator, who suddenly grew ambitious to blossom into 
a journalist, approached Charlie in the proper manner, 
and lo ! five days later American papers published an 
" interview " by him with General Moltke. It is, of 
course, a mere matter of detail that the " interview " 
was a typewritten affair, presented to him by von 
Moltke — who knew as much English as Mr. Cinema 
man knew German, i.e., nil — with a " How do you do " 
and " Good-bye " thrown in. It proved what Charlie 



56 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

could do. For an additional £50, plus a commission 
on the sale of a motor-car, bought by the Cinema man 
from Captain von Brauwitz, of the Railroad Depart- 
ment of the Berlin General Staff, Charlie furnished the 
American with a pass for a two weeks' visit to the 
Eastern front, including a hundred feet of film, which 
he was able to take of General Hindenburg and his 
Staff. He also filmed the Kaiser's sister. Prince von 
Biilow, and various other notabilities — cheap at the 
price ! 

Whispering Charlie offered this same man, in my 
presence, to persuade the Kaiser himself to pose for his 
cinematograph, for the purely nominal sum of 2,000 
marks (£100). He explained that one of the Kaiser's 
personal A.D.C.'s was a friend and relative of his, who, 
*' for the sake of America's friendship," would be able 
to manage it. To me he offered, upon payment of a 
similar sum (half in advance, the other half on receipt 
of the necessary permits), a two weeks' trip along the 
Western battle-front. I agreed to this arrangement 
purely with the object of showing the Berlin authorities 
that " money talked " even in the German organisation. 
I paid the preliminary 1,000 marks (£50), and awaited 
proceedings. Alas ! it was once more demonstrated that 
a secret shared by two is no secret at all. My Ameri- 
can cinema man, during one of his many very hilarious 
dinners — German champagne was a bit too strong for 
him — let the cat out of the bag to Professor Stein, 
associate editor of the Vossische Zeitung. Much per- 
turbed. Stein insisted on further facts and details. 
Seeing that my little plan was spoiled, there was nothing 
else to do but to expose the whole system there and 
then. I reported the matter to the Foreign Office, who 
at first seemed rather to enjoy the joke. 

You see, Foreign Office and General Staff are not on 




No Admission to Potsdam 



BERLIN IMPRESSIONS 57 

the best of terms with one another. On investigation, 
however, they found out that an official from the Foreign 
Office was implicated in this journalistic clearing-house, 
so they tried to pigeon-hole the matter by returning 
to me the 1,000 marks I had paid. But I thought 
that it would interest the Press Department of the 
General Staff. I went there and for the second time 
exploded the bomb. " Impossible ! absolutely impos- 
sible ! " I was assured, until I produced one or two 
receipts signed by Count von Hessenstein for various 
sums received from the cinema man. Then thej^ began 
to look serious and proceeded to take action. 

The outcome of the affair was that the cinema man 
was first urged to withdraw, or, rather, repudiate all his 
statements about the help received from Count Hessen- 
stein. If he would do that, he would be given a universal 
pass to travel anywhere in Germany and take all the 
photographs and cinema pictures he liked. I happen 
to know that he felt much inclined to accept such a 
generous offer, but the difficulty was that I was in pos- 
session of all his receipts for money paid to Hessen- 
stein. The upshot was that his filming career was cut 
short, and that he withdrew to the neutral territory of 
Holland. It had been a lucky day for me when I got 
hold of those receipts, because but for these I would 
have had no evidence at all after the American had 
left the countr3\ I made several affidavits, and Whis- 
pering Charlie and his partner. Dr. Marx, or Marks, 
disappeared for the time being from the Adlon field of 
operations. 

The Adlon Bar ("American Headquarters") was a 
most lively and interesting place after 1 a. m. The 
writer had a narrow escape of being *' Zaberned " {i.e., 
cut up with a sabre, like the lame cobbler of Zabern 



58 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

fame) by a Prussian officer, who had looked too deep 
into several bottles. I was talking to an American, 
and, of course, spoke Enghsh. The officer, when he 
heard us, drew his sword, and running towards me 
shouted : 

" Hier wird Deutsch gesprochen " (" German must 
be spoken here"); adding that those people who do 
not know German have no business to be in Germany 
at all. He was quickly disarmed by several colleagues, 
who winked an eye at us and, later, came to oJ0Fer their 
abject apologies. 

There are few articles for sale in the shops that are 
not decorated with a facsimile iron cross. You may 
buy postcards with the iron cross — natural size — on 
it to send to your friend at the front, or you can buy 
a cigarette-case with a miniature cross in one of the 
corners. There are pipes, pocket-books, mugs, walking- 
sticks, handkerchiefs, brooches, rings — nay, I even saw 
a pair of black and white silk garters with wee iron 
crosses in the centre of the rosette. It is a bit over- 
done and does not tend to make that decoration more 
exclusive. I heard that up to October 1915, 900,000 
iron crosses had been awarded. 

One afternoon while sipping my tea and enjoying the 
sights, in the Adlon Hotel palm court, I noticed a tall, 
good-looking German officer in cavalry uniform. I 
stared at him and he stared back and smiled. He came 
over to my table. " I am not surprised," he said, " that 
you are somewhat puzzled. We crossed together on 
the S.S, Rotterdam last year, from New York to 
Plymouth ! " Then of course I remembered at once. 
I had noticed him the first evening on board, during 
dinner, and recall saying to my neighbour at table that 



BERLIN IMPRESSIONS 69 

there would be small chance of his escape on account 
of his very Teutonic appearance, if we should be held 
up by an English warship. He was always alone, but 
one day he confided to the ship's gossip that he was 
a Finn and on his way to join the Russian Army. It 
struck none of us at the time — nor evidently the Brit- 
ish Colonel who examined our papers at Plymouth — 
that it was rather a strange route to go from America 
to Russia via Holland. He passed the eagle eyes of 
the inquisitive British Colonel, who cross-examined 
every one of us, inquiring into our antecedents, whether 
we had any German relations ; whether we intended 
going to Germany, and I even heard the dear old Colonel 
inquire of one of the passengers whether he " spoke " 
German! But our would-be Finn merely showed his 
Finnish papers (belonging to his brother-in-law in New 
York). He did not speak English but knew French 
fluently. He passed without any difficulties whatso- 
ever. He assured me that during those twelve days on 
board he had lived through many anxious waking hours, 
and that it was an immense relief when the good ship 
finally landed him safely on Dutch soil. 

I should like to place on record two of my earliest and 
most frequent impressions gained in various parts of 
Germany : 

1. It was freely admitted by those who knew that the 

English powers of organisation had been grossly 
underrated. 

2. That the war would probably' last about four 

years, before the Allies would be convinced that 
" Germany cannot be destroyed." 

New troops proceeding towards the front rarely know 
before several hours after starting, whether they are 



60 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEH. 

going to the Eastern or the Western theatre of war. 
Frequently not even the commanding officers know until 
two hours after departure, when they are permitted to 
open their sealed orders. 

Of course I did not fail to meet Berlin's Lord Mayor, 
an elderly, very simple, homely German of the middle 
classes. His attitude was, as he expressed it, one of 
" quiet, hopeful confidence in the ultimate outcome." 
He seemed to have been pleasantly surprised by the con- 
duct of the Berlin Social Democrats, who, in pre-war 
days, had been his veritable bete noire. " They have 
come up to the scratch like real men and true Germans," 
he told me. " When we were somewhat puzzled about 
the organisation and distribution of our bread tickets, 
the Berlin trades'-union headquarters placed four thou- 
sand of their members voluntarily at our disposal. 
They worked for many hours a day, and that, mind you, 
in the majority of cases, after their own working hours. 
He spoke of the allowances made to the wives and chil- 
dren of the men under arms. In Berlin this came to 10 
marks ($2.40) a week for the wives and 3 marks (72 
cents) a week for each child. The yearly pension for 
the widow of a private is 400 marks ($97.20) ; of a 
sergeant, $121.50; of a sergeant-major, $145.80; of a 
lieutenant or captain, $291.60; of a major, lieutenant- 
colonel or colonel, $388.80 ; and of a general, $486.00. 

The children of N.CO.'s and privates, fallen in the 
war, receive $38.88 per annum till they have reached 
their eighteenth birthday. For the children of fallen 
officers the allowance varies between $48.60 and $72.90 
per annum. Little enough to buy " Kultur " with, it 
would seem! 

I also paid several visits, by urgent invitation I 
should add, to the " Alexanderplatz," which is the Ger- 



BERLIN IMPRESSIONS 61 

man synonym for Scotland Yard. At the Alexander- 
platz stands the majestic " Polizei Prasidium." From 
what I was able to see of their methods there, they were 
somewhat antiquated compared to English and Ameri- 
can systems. A long statement of mine, for instance 
(in connection with " Whispering Charlie's " activities), 
was taken down in long hand. 

Baroness von Below, the American wife of the well- 
known General of that name, tells an interesting story 
about her husband's sudden return to Berlin. Madame 
von Below was at Aix-les-Bains. On the 25th of July, 
1914*, her husband joined her there. He was at the 
time in command of a regiment of the Guards in Berlin. 
On the 30th, his second in command, a Colonel Lyncker, 
well known through his various military publications, 
telegraphed to him, but instead of signing his name, 
wired: " Return at once. — Augusta." The Baroness 
happened to open that telegram herself. She assured 
me that her husband had a bad quarter of an hour 
arguing that " Augusta " could only refer to the name 
of the Kaiserin Augusta Victoria Guards Regiment, 
under his command. He escaped from France by the 
last train crossing the frontier. The Baroness pro- 
ceeded to Italy, where she waited until certain funds, 
for which she had cabled to America, had arrived. On 
her way to Berlin she learned at Jena that Namur had 
fallen, but little realised that it had been captured by 
her husband's regiment. 

There is a General von Below and also a General 
von Biilow in Berlin. Curiously enough, both families 
not only live in the same street and in the same mansion, 
but on the same floor as well. 

Always an interesting spot in Berlin is the comer of 



62 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

the Wilhelms and Dorothean Strasse, where the Staff 
College stands. It is now used for the administration 
of the casualty lists. Every new issue is pasted on the 
walls outside, and there you may find hundreds of peo- 
ple, too poor to pay the nominal sum charged for the 
latest copy of the casualty list, poring over them, 
searching for the name of son, father, husband, lover, or 
friend. If you remain there a little while you will 
usually witness some of those minor human tragedies 
which go to make up this stupendous one, when some 
old lady or man is led out of the crowd murmuring a 
beloved name, coupled to the final, hopeless word: 
"Tot, tot, tot" ("Dead, dead, dead"). 

Early during the war a large map-publishing com- 
pany issued what was called a " World War Map." It 
showed the five continents, and, to illustrate Germany's 
naval power, all the various stations of the Fleet were 
indicated by small black ships, with their names printed 
underneath. Of course, those details were taken from 
the " peace " naval stations. Off^ the coast of Japan 
lay the proud Scharnhorst and Gneisenau; the Emden 
was stationed off Bombay ; the Dresden and Magdeburg 
off the coast of South America, and the super-Dread- 
nought Deutschland, with smoking funnels (in token of 
preparedness, no doubt), proudly figured on the map 
just west of Ireland. The North Sea, of course, was 
peppered with various German warships. I must em- 
phasise here that it was not a map printed in peace- 
time, but published after the outbreak of the war. I 
am sure it was one of the naval league propaganda 
exhibits, illustrating, for the benefit of the German 
people, how well the money which they had subscribed 
for the building of their Navy had been spent ! 

Alas! before long, owing to the activities of the 



BERLIN IMPRESSIONS 63 

British Navy, the map began to look very much out of 
date. The shadow ships became too symbohc, and, 
when, one after the other, the German naval " peace " 
stations were denuded of their proud guardians, and 
when one night some wag changed the title of the map 
hanging in the Hotel Adlon by erasing from the German 
motto : " Unsere Zukunft liegt auf dem Wasser " the 
word " auf " and changed it into " unter," the German 
Press Department thought it was time to suppress 
further exhibition of the map, which gradually began to 
illustrate Great Britain's " Britannia rules the Waves " 
far more than that Germany's future lay on the water. 

The sale and exhibition of that map was henceforth 
strictly prohibited under a penalty of heavy fines. 
Exportation also was forbidden. I was fortunate 
enough to obtain a copy, and succeeded in smuggling 
it out of Germany. It is now at Whitehall, where on 
my return to England I took it, and, together with some 
other documents, placed it at the disposal of the authori- 
ties. I have recently had considerable correspondence 
about these papers, as I was anxious to reproduce 
some of them with these notes. But the powers that 
be at the War Office evidently consider that that would 
be indiscreet, as they refuse to return them. (I might 
incidentally add that they refused to recognise my 
claim for compensation on account of depreciation of 
my literary material. However, this is merely in 
parenthesis.) 

A very interesting and popular photographic poster 
is one showing the German Emperor, in flowing cloak 
and admiral's cocked hat, standing in the centre of the 
map of Germany with both his hands on the steer- 
ing-wheel of an imaginary ship. Underneath it read: 



64 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

"Lieb Vaterland kannst ruhig sein, 

Du brauchst niemals verzagen; 

Du hast den rechten Steuermann, 

In diesen schweren Tagen." 

Freely translated, it means that the Fatherland can 
be of good courage, and need not despair as long as they 
have the right pilot at the helm. 



CHAPTER IX 

MUNICH 

AT the Bavarian " Kriegsacademie " (Staff Col- 
lege), in Munich, which has been turned into a 
large hospital, I came across the first Allied prisoners 
of war. There were a large number of French and 
some English prisoners there. I talked to several of 
them — to one J. Featherstone, belonging to the Rifle 
Brigade, and to Private G. Kelly, of the King's Royal 
Rifles. I spoke to them alone, out of earshot of any of 
the warders or other hospital employes. Both assured 
me that they were being well treated and had nothing 
whatever to complain of. It was the same with a num- 
ber of Frenchmen I questioned. There was a man of 
the 79th Regiment present, a certain Perouff, and an- 
other of the 76th Regiment, by name of Henri Gassies. 
I had lengthy conversations with both, and they stated 
most emphatically that the treatment they received was 
excellent. In one of the halls about sixteen of them 
were sitting round a long table, playing cards. From 
the numbers on their tunics they represented the fol- 
lowing regiments : the 37th, 46th, 55th, 56th, 76th, 77th, 
79th, 89th, 153rd, 160th and 172nd. Perouff" told 
me that several of his friends, who had left the previous 
week, almost cried. There were about forty men to 
each ward, the rooms were high and well ventilated, and 
each ward had a bath-room with two baths, a shower- 
bath and W.C. 

The meals were as follows (I am giving here the in- 
formation obtained from Perouff^ and Featherstone) : 

7 A, M. — Coff'ee and bread. 

65 



66 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

11 A. M. — Beer (those that are allowed to have it). 

1 :30 p. M. — Soup, meat and vegetables. 

4:30 P.M.— Coffee. 

6 p. M. — Soup and meat. 

One Frenchman, with a leg wound, who was still in 
bed, was drawing a German soldier carrying a wounded 
Frenchman — his own experience ! ■ 

The real marvel of Munich is the Custom Warehouse 
Hospital. It is a large, very commodious building, and 
is arranged with true German method. The wounded 
are brought to its very doors by through trains from 
the front, and are placed in a large hall, where the dif- 
ferent cases are sorted out. Spacious elevators take 
them upstairs to four different floors. There was one 
large ward with about one hundred, perhaps more, beds. 
Usually each ward contains about thirty to fifty. To 
each is attached a spacious bath-room with six baths 
and shower-baths, and two movable ones on wheels, 
which can be placed alongside the man's bed. 

The operating theatre was a wonderful affair, large 
and light, with windows on practically every side. The 
perfect cleanliness of every nook and comer of the 
building struck me. The longer I looked round, the 
more I was impressed with the enormous work it must 
have entailed to change a warehouse into a modern 
hospital. To build all these bath-rooms, operating the- 
atres and kitchens, to lay on central heating, etc., and, 
remarking on this, I suggested that it would have been 
almost as easy to erect an entirely new building. 

Then I learned the most interesting detail of all from 
the assistant superintendent who was showing me round. 
His answer fairly made me gasp and then smile : " Oh, 
no ; it was not as difficult as you think ! " he said, smil- 



MUNICH 67 

ing deprecatingly. " You see, we Germans always try 
to think ahead. This building was only meant to be a 
customs warehouse in peace time, and it was built on 
such lines and plans that, when the need should arise, 
it could practically at once be transformed into a first- 
class modern hospital." 

I think we may safely let that statement speak for 
itself. 

Major Sonnenberg, of the Bavarian War Office, the 
walls of whose room were, by the way, covered with the 
Times war maps, said, during a conversation I had with 
him : " Do you remember Napoleon's saying : ' A 
Nation cannot be conquered ' ? Germany has never 
been beaten while she remained united." 

Nevertheless, the dear old Major, who was not at all 
a typical " Bavarian lion " and fire-eater, when I left 
suddenly asked : " Cannot America stop this wholesale 
murder ? " 

I also met the Lord IMayor of Munich, and had a long 
talk with him. His topic was the " Allied starvation 
scheme ! " He gave chapter and verse, or I should say 
pounds and ounces, together with all the details of 
bread-making. He enumerated the amount of grain, 
water and potato flour used per pound of bread. He 
put all the figures down, brought forth the old faithful 
" Statistical Yearbook," showed the number of bushels 
the yearly harvest amounted to, divided it by the num- 
ber of inhabitants, and thus proved by " incontro- 
vertible " figures the utter futility of the Allies attempt- 
ing to starve Germany into submission. Though I did 
not try to follow his figures, I think he is right. To 
explain why I think so would lead me far beyond the 
scope of this chapter, or even of this book; but, let 



68 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

me say here, as I have said in several other places in 
these notes, there is only one way of bringing Germany 
to her knees, and that is by brute force, by successful 
military operations ; in other words, by winning decisive 
battles. 

Captain von Lahmezahn, one of the few regular offi- 
cers left in Munich, insisted upon personally showing me 
over the Prince Arnoff Barracks (Bavarian Guards). 
The new drafts (1916) had then been in training for 
about six weeks, and, with pardonable pride, he showed 
their condition. Only a born soldier could so thor- 
oughly assimilate the atmosphere of barracks, discipline 
and efficiency in as short a time as those men evidently 
had. But one thing struck me, there was a sameness 
in every movement, a mechanical precision in all their 
actions. (I am not merely referring to the time when 
they were on parade, but also to their subsequent be- 
haviour.) When we entered one of the kitchens a voice 
from nowhere bawled at the top of its lungs : " StilU 
gestanden! " and every one present jumped into a stiffly 
erect position. Then some one rushed towards the cap- 
tain at a pace that I thought must inevitably bring 
them into collision. But three paces away he stopped 
and again he began to bawl out something, only this 
time it was a whole string of words. I was able to 
gather that it was the kitchen of the 3rd Battalion; 
that they were cooking that day for six hundred and 
fifty men, and that the food was soup and meat. 

I tasted them, and found both excellent. 

Whenever the captain stopped a man and asked him 
a question, that same method of speaking, or rather 
shouting, was used in answer. They spoke as if they 
had been addressed by a man standing half a mile off. 
I asked the captain what the object of this method was. 



MUNICH 69 

His explanation was that it teaches them to keep always 
on the alert. " Many of the recruits," he said, " when 
they arrive at their depots, are * mother's darlings,' 
speak softly and slowly and are startled when you 
address them. After two weeks' training their whole 
attitude to life, their manner of acting and thinking, has 
been changed. Having to answer at the top of their 
voices makes them keen and alert." 

The commandant of the battalion and of the barracks 
was a Major von Calcker, a member of the Reichstag, 
and a Professor at the University of Munich. He was 
an extremely pleasant, courteous and gentle man. Not 
at all the German officer type. He explained at once 
that he was what in England is called a " dug-out." 
Though long past the age-limit, he had at once offered 
his services to the Vaterland. In him, as, indeed, in 
most Bavarians of the upper classes, I noticed an entire 
absence of that intense spirit of hatred so prominent 
amongst the Prussians. If I may venture a prophecy, 
I think that it will not be as difficult as some people 
imagine (and as the Prussians would like us all to be- 
lieve), to separate once more the various German 
States, and make them independent kingdoms and prin- 
cipalities. I may be mistaken, but reading between 
the lines, and at the bottom of many expressions of 
patriotism, etc., one could discover the secret thought: 
" What else could we do but fight ; we are tied to 
Prussia, and practically under her thumb." 

If those smaller States can be given reasonable guar- 
antees that they will not be exposed to internecine war- 
fare, or to an attack from Prussia, the majority of 
them will be only too happ}' to cut loose from their 
arrogant masters. The Prussians think themselves the 
super-race of Gennans, and look down upon the " zu 
gemiithliche " (i.e., too kind, too jovial) " Sachsen, 



70 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Bayern and Wiirtembergers." And the Bavarians, 
Sachsen and Wiirtembergers know this. 

The Bavarians might be called the Irishmen of the 
German Empire. In the first place, they are primarily 
fighting for Bavaria as the Irish are primarily fighting 
for Ireland. Then the Bavarian dearly loves a fight, 
and I think the young fellow who expressed himself 
about the war one evening at the " Hofbrauhaus " in 
Munich, voiced the opinion of a great many of his 
compatriots : 

Said he : " Hah ! what luck to be able to ' sich rau- 
fen ' " {i.e., indulge in a rough and tumble fight) " with- 
out the chance of some policeman coming to interfere, 
just when the real fun begins ! " 

I am glad to notice that the British Army has now 
adopted steel helmets. The Germans started making 
and using them in October, 1914, but without altering 
the familiar appearance of the " Pickelhaube." 

During ray stay in Munich I made a short week-end 
trip into the Bavarian Alps, and there came, quite unex- 
pectedly, on one of those pathetic scenes that are so 
poignantly human. I had wandered far out of my way. 
After a long afternoon's walk I stopped for tea — I 
should say " coffee " — ^ at a little wayside " Gasthaus " 
(inn), of which many are to be found in the Alps. 
That morning the order had come for the son of the 
house, belonging to the 1916 class, to join his depot. 
The call had been expected for several weeks, so the 
boy was quite ready, and to judge from his lively and 
happy demeanour, delighted to go. But the old mother, 
a little grey-haired lady, could not share his enthusiasm, 
and when the hour of parting drew near, she placed her 
hands in front of her face and sobbed. The Bavarian 



MUNICH 71 

guide, a gaunt, strapping old fellow, nervously pulling 
at his long pipe, and with a suspicion of tears lurking in 
the corners of his eyes, patted her on the back and 
said : " Come, come, mother, buck up. Think of all 
the others who are sending their boys to fight for King 
and Country." 

And the old lady looked up through her tears and 
slowly replied : " A mother does not think of others." 

But when voices outside announced the arrival of 
some of the other boys from the village, bound for the 
same destination, she pulled herself together, and call- 
ing the boy to her side, said in a mock-serious voice: 
" Now don't feel that you must always be the first every- 
where." Then followed a little ceremony as impressive 
as it was simple. " Give me your blessing, mother," 
said the boy. And taking off his little round hat dec- 
orated with flowers, he knelt down at the old lady's feet. 
She stretched out two thin, withered old hands, and 
murmured a prayer and a blessing. One more embrace, 
and then he had gone. Gradually the music and sing- 
ing died down in the distance. 

By the window stood the little mother, and, as I paid 
my bill, and quietly left the room, I heard her whisper: 
" And so you work and suffer to bring up your child, 
and then, one day he is taken away. You don't know 
why, and you don't know whither." 



CHAPTER X 

ZEPPELINS 

" It's our Kaiser, and no one else, that the English have to 
thank, that half of their London is not laid in ashes." 

THIS cheerful statement was made to me by Major 
Herwarth von Bitterfeld, of the General Staff, at 
a dinner given by Baron Mumm von Schwarzenstein, 
of the Foreign Office, to various neutral journalists, 
including myself, at the, time stationed in Berlin. 

My informant was perfectly serious when he made the 
statement quoted at the head of this chapter, and I am 
convinced that he believed every word he said. I know 
that he has many influential connections in the Kaiser's 
immediate entourage, and I am indebted to him for 
many bits of gossip and real information. Especially 
after having finished a bottle or two of " Pommery Sec," 
his favourite vintage, Bitterfeld could be relied upon to 
do his duty by any enterprising journalist. In the 
Major's case conviviality bred loquacity. 

I heard a great deal in those months about Zeppelin 
raids on England. A great deal was expected of them. 

In those days the favourite shape for menu cards was 
a pasteboard Zeppelin or aeroplane. Naturally, not 
infrequently they formed an easy introduction to aero- 
nautical subjects, and, of course, from Zeppelins to a 
raid over London is only an after-dinner flight. 

I must admit that many things I learned at that 
dinner have subsequently come true ; many others, again, 
have not and never will. 

The Germans are poor psychologists. A mass Zep- 

72 



ZEPPELINS 73 

pelin attack on London was looked upon as the greatest 
trump card Germany' had up her sleeve. They fondly 
imagined that a few serious raids over London would 
make the British public squeal and clamour for peace ! 

" Air defences ! Ha, my dear fellow," so I was as- 
sured again and again, *' there is absolutely no adequate 
defence against our Zeppelins. They can fly ten thou- 
sand feet high, which is totally out of reach of any air- 
gun yet invented. Let them make their London dark ; 
they cannot cover up the Thames, they cannot hide 
St. Paul's and the Tower. As to attacks by aeroplanes, 
our machine-guns will take care of those." 

" Just what can a Zeppelin do, or not do ? " was one 
of my pet questions, and many and varied were the 
replies I received in answer. More about them anon. 
Let us return to the soft-hearted Kaiser and Major 
Bitterfeld. 

" Ever since the beginning of the war," the Major 
assured me, " various Chiefs of the Marineamt ' " (Ad- 
miralty) " and of the Great General Staff have been 
trying to persuade the Emperor to sign the edict order- 
ing periodical air raids on London. Alas ! " (with a 
deep sigh) " until now without success." I was told — 
by various informants — that the Kaiser refused on the 
grounds that London was an undefended town, and 
that he could not allow an attack from the air on his 
own relations !..."! know," sadly concluded the 
Major, " how very hard some of our leaders have 
pleaded and argued with him." 

" London is the heart and brain of this terrible war, 
and it should be given a taste of what war really is. 
A raid with some ten or fifteen of our latest Zeppelins 
would accomplish this thoroughly." 

I was told that in February, 1915, twenty Zeppelins 
had been ready for a preliminary raid over London; 



74? BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

but absolutely at the eleventh hour the plan had to be 
abandoned as the Kaiser refused his sanction. 

" It was the same old story with our submarines," 
my informant continued ; " it took us several months 
to persuade the Emperor that we had to meet force 
with force. The BUI was only signed about six weeks > 
before it took effect. I suppose we must have patience 
a little longer with our Zeppelins. Anyhow, we have 
been over to leave our cards." 

Everybody was agreed on the one cardinal point, 
viz., their absolute confidence in the power of Zeppelins ; 
but the ideas of their greatest usefulness differed widely. 

" Our Zeppelins may not entirely revolutionise war- 
fare, but they will play a very important part in it. 
Up till now the need of them has not been so urgent, as 
we have been fighting mainly on land ; but when ' The 
Day ' arrives, and the British Fleet comes out of its 
hiding-place in the Irish Sea, then, my friends, the world 
will learn what a Zeppelin can do." 

The speaker was a man in the early thirties, and I 
feel sure that he was sincere. 

" Oh," he added passionately, " if they would only 
come out ! " I could not help asking with a perfectly 
blank expression on my face : " Who — the British or 
the Germans.? " 

" You see," another went on to explain to me, " every- 
body who knows anything at all about naval warfare 
and British naval strategy is aware that they have 
always proclaimed the theory that ' the enemy's coast 
is the first line of defence.' What has become of that 
axiom ? Where are their ships ? " 

I inquired whether an air raid over London would 
not be an extremely hazardous and expensive under- 
taking. How many of the twenty Zeppelins would re- 




m 



f 



English Tricks 

III order fo protect piihlir l>iiil(Uii(ix from Zeppelin bombs, the 
En(jl\xh hnre placed Geriiwii prisoners on the roofs 



ZEPPELINS 75 

turn? What would become of the manageability of an 
airship when heavy loads were suddenly dropped from 
it ? Had the damage they did to Paris been worth the 
risk? But nothing could shake their confidence. 

" In the first place," so I was told for the tenth time, 
" we have not yet begun to use our reserve surprises. 
We must hold something back for emergencies. Sup- 
pose — mind 3'^ou, I say only suppose — that we should 
suffer some serious set-back in France and Belgium, and 
deem it advisable to retire to our own frontier. Then 
would come the time to bring our Zeppelins into play. 
How long, do 3^ou think, would the English population 
stand continual night raids on their cities? Who do 
you think would soonest cry ' Enough ' ? " 

" Now as to the risks. From what you have seen of 
the spirit, the enthusiasm of our people, do you doubt 
for one moment but that you could find a thousand 
volunteers a day for any Zeppelin trip across the North 
Sea?" (By the way, I noticed during the last weeks 
of my stay in Germany that they referred more to the 
crossing of the North Sea than — as was usually the 
case heretofore — exclusively to " Flying across the 
Channel.") "We Germans do not think of our lives 
when the good of the Fatherland is at stake." 

As an interesting little side-light on this man's char- 
acter, I learned later that he was originally an artillery 
officer ; was wounded before Verdun, and for some 
months unable to walk without a stick. During that 
time he managed, through influence, to obtain a second- 
in-command commission on a submarine. 

" I do not know a single compatriot of mine," he 
continued, " who would hesitate to volunteer for such 
a journey. Then, as to material costs. Suppose we 
did lose half our airships? The great mistake our 



76 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

enemies make is to think that we are weakening as the 
war goes on. Our great system is only the basis of 
our army and navy. 

" We are building up, creating as the war continues. 
Germany's motto has changed once more ; it is no longer 
' Our future lies on the water,' but, ' Our future lies in 
the air.' The longer the war lasts, the stronger our 
air power will be, the less England will remain an island. 
Our visit to Paris, like our trip to England, was nothing 
more than a trial spin. As on the occasion of our raid 
on England the fuses of most of the bombs we dropped 
were turned off so that they should not explode. If 
necessary, we can build an airship in a month, and an 
aeroplane in just half that time. 

" Just as likely as not, this war may not be definitely 
decided; but, in that case, it will soon be followed by 
another war with England, and then our airships will 
play the greatest part." 

I inquired what England was going to do in the mean- 
time, whether she was going to lag behind in the building 
of an air fleet? Perhaps Albion would say: "For 
every German airship we'll build two ! " What then ? 

I was anxious to see what the answer would be. 
Truth to tell, I thought I had him " on the hip." The 
speaker looked at me for a second or two before answer- 
ing. If I had wanted to be very critical I might have 
discovered a trace of sincere pity in his look. Such 
ignorance I Then he smiled good-humouredly. 

" What, then, you ask ? England has not the armies 
which it can transport — by air — to Germany, to de- 
liver a decisive battle, and to follow up the advantage of 
her air fleet. The Britisher, in his conceited ignorance, 
his boastfulness, will never agree to conscription, and 
no one will ever be able to make him see his danger. 



ZEPPELINS 77 

Therein lies his ultimate ruin. I say once more, and 
most emphatically, England's greatest strength, the 
fact of its being an island, is disappearing fast. The 
huge size of its Empire, its millions of inhabitants, its 
fleet, none of those factors will count. It's the twenty- 
five miles between Dover and Calais which will ultimately 
seal her fate, and make her cede her place, as tJie first 
•world-power, to Germany." 

" Wilhelmshaven, the nearest German naval harbour, 
is nearly three hundred miles from London, and, as far 
as Berlin is concerned, that town is entirely beyond 
English reach. But London is less than one hundred 
miles from Calais, near enough to organise an aerial 
invasion. I do not say that is going to happen in this 
war, but it will come." 

We returned then to the subject of Zeppelins as an 
auxiliary to the fleet. Here is the formula which was 
sketched for me on the back of a menu-card : " The 
cost of a Zeppelin is about £125,000." (I have seen in 
England figures that state double this amount, but I am 
quite sure they are exaggerated. The first naval Zeppe- 
lins cost a milhon marks (£50,000). Recent improve- 
ments have not increased the cost of construction by 
more than 150 per cent.) "One British Dreadnought 
costs £2,000,000. Suppose we spend a little over half 
the money a Dreadnought costs on airships, that would 
give us ten Zeppelins to place against every British 
Dreadnought. A Dreadnought needs about 1,000 men ; 
ten airships about 200. A Dreadnought can do about 
25 miles an hour, an airship at least 40 to 50. How is 
a battleship going to escape its ten pursuers.? 

" Give each airship only ten torpedoes, each the 
average weight of a man, say, about 75 kilogrammes. 
Now, my friend, will you tell me what chance a British 



78 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

battleship would have under such circumstances? A 
hundred air torpedoes raining from the sky, any one of 
which can destroy her." 

The dimensions of the latest Super-Zeppelins are ap- 
proximately : 

Length 800 feet. 

Diameter 75 feet. 

Speed 50 to 60 miles. 

Navigable height 15,000 feet. 

Gas-capacity approx. ..2,000,000 cubic feet. 

The subject of the number of Zeppelins Germany has 
has always been a matter of speculation, in Germany 
itself as well as abroad. The figures I learned in Ger- 
many ranged between 50 and 120. The rule of the 
happy medium may apply here, too. Official figures 
are difficult, if not entirely impossible to obtain. The 
Zeppelins now are mostly under the jurisdiction of the 
German " Marineamt," and it would be easier to make 
the Sphinx talk than to squeeze an interview of any 
importance or value out of that institution. I am 
speaking from personal experience. 

What I did come across, though — how, when and 
where are of no interest at present — was an official 
list of Zeppelin sheds in Germany. I was indiscreet 
enough to feast my hungry journalistic eyes on it, and 
even succeeded in making a hasty copy. From this 
list it is possible to construct a fairly accurate estimate 
of the number of Zeppelins Germany has, or at least 
had, last year. 

On the Eastern frontier there are seven different 
Zeppelin stations, viz.: 

Thorn, 
Allenstein, 



ZEPPELINS 79 

Schneidemiihl, 

Posen, 

Liegnitz (near Breslau), 

Konigsberg, 

Graudenz. 

Near the Western frontier fifteen diflferent stations 
were enumerated, viz., at: 
Metz, 

Aix la Chapelle, 
Strassburg, 

Cologne (at Nippes and at Bickendorf), 
Frankfurt-am-Main, 
Friedrichshafen, 

Manzell (near Friedrichshafen), 
Oos (Baden, Black Forest), 
Mannheim, 
Treves, 

Lahr (Baden), 
Leichlingen (near Essen), 
Wanne. 

Berlin is practically surrounded by Zeppelin sheds. 
They are at: 

Johannisthal (General Aerodrome), 

Tegel, 

Biesdorf, 

Potsdam. 

In Central Germany the following places were 
recorded as having Zeppelin sheds : 

Dresden, 

Leipzig, 

Bitterfeld (twenty-five miles north of Leipzig), 

Gotha, 

Hanover. 



80 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Near the coast (North Sea) are: 

Wilhelmshaven, 

Cuxhaven, 

Heligoland, 

Fuhlsbiittel (Hamburg), 

Tondern, 

Tonning, 

Kiel. 

In Belgium : 

Brussels, 
Ghent, 
Dinant, 
Bruges. 

In addition to these there are said to be twenty-two 
portable Zeppelin sheds. 

Together with the above list, ^ and a map showing 
Zeppelin sheds in Germany, I obtained plans and draw- 
ings of a Zeppelin, giving much interesting information. 
I cannot reproduce them here as they are still at White- 
hall. 

I give you these views for what they are worth. I 
must add that they are not the opinions of civilians, 
but all of them were expressed to me either by military 
or naval officers, some of them members of flying 
squadrons. 

One of the main reasons why they thought their 
Zeppelins invincible was explained to me again and 
again, and at great length. 

" You see, our latest Super-Zeppelins are filled with 
absolutely uninflammable gas," so I was told. " They 
can punch as many holes in that great gas bag as they 
like, but as long as two of the twenty odd compartments 



3ci?pcltn ji bcr gcnt>cn _ 




Zeppelin Over London 

The End of England's Sea-Power. Lord Nelson descending from his 

Column to hide in the Underqronnd Raihrn'i 



ZEPPELINS 81 

remain whole, the Zeppelin will be able to return home ! " 
I wonder what they are thinking about that " unin- 
flammable gas " now ! 

Several posters and caricatures have, of course, been 
drawn playing on Zeppelin raids over England. Illus- 
tration facing this page is called " Zeppelinitis," and 
shows Nelson descending from his column to hide in 
the Underground Railway. Sub-title is, " The End of 
England's Sea-Power." 



CHAPTER XI 



SPIES AND SPYING 



EIGHTY MILLION MARKS (POUR MILLION STERLING) 
was Germany's annual budget for her spy system 
before the war. What it amounts to now it is impos- 
sible to estimate. 

" One good spy is worth a dozen diplomats." 
Thus Herr Matthias Erzberger, leader of the powerful 
Centrum Party, chief spy and press manipulator in 
Italy before it entered the war, and personal crony of 
the Kaiser, one evening in Berlin while we were dis- 
cussing German diplomats. 

In these two statements you have the German es- 
pionage principle in a nutshell. 

Let me first give you a few names and details of some 
of the main characters in the story of the German spy 
system. They are all real names, not fictitious ones. 
The majority can be found in the German equivalents 
of Who's Who, and the Army and Civil Lists. 

Leutnant Baron Max Hochwachtee 

As I have mentioned already, he was for several years 
(up to August, 1914) so-called manager and director of 
the Stuttgart Daimler Motor Works branch in London. 
His age is about thirty-five. He is quite handsome. 
His English and French are perfect. He expects to 
return to London the moment peace is declared. As he 
foresees some difficulties for Germans " the first six 
months after the war," he wiU be a " Frenchman." 

82 



SPIES AND SPYING — I 83 

Majoe Freiherr Herwarth von Bitterfeld 

Berlin Great General Staff. Son of the well-known 
General of that name. Formerly military attache at 
the German Embassy in Washington (succeeded by the 
notorious von Papen). Ostensibly he is connected with 
the " Presse Abteilung " of the Great General Staff, 
but in reality he is a member of the Intelligence service. 
His mission is to make himself popular with foreign 
journalists. To what purpose I shall show later. 

Matthias Erzberger 

Leader of the Catholic Centrum Party in the Reichs- 
tag. Ten years ago he was a village schoolmaster in 
Bavaria ; to-day he is one of the men in closest contact 
with the German Emperor. He is frequently in con- 
flict with the Chancellor. Persona grata at the Holy 
See. Made frantic efforts to keep Italy out of the 
war. 

One of the master brains of Germany's espionage 
system. 

Hauptmann von Brauchitsch 

Berlin General Staff. Man of mystery. Some say 
that he is the notorious Steinhauer, chief of the German 
spy system. His father lived in France before the war 
of 1870 as Monsieur " de " Brauchitsch. He was an 
intimate friend of the great Stieber, who founded Ger- 
many's espionage system. When in September, 1870, 
Bismarck wanted a " good Prussian " as Prefect of the 
Seine-et-Oise district, Stieber told him that he had the 
very man he wanted — Monsieur de Brauchitsch. Cap- 
tain von Brauchitsch accompanied the Kaiser on his 
visit to London in 1911. 



84 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Me. Aubeey Stanhope 

A renegade Britisher. Editor of a sheet called the 
Continental Times, in which he makes bi- and tri-weekly 
attacks on his mother country. In his free time he 
works for the German anti-espionage department. A 
despicable traitor, and I had the great satisfaction of 
telling him so. He calls himself " neutral." Was an 
intimate friend of the late Roger Casement. 

Frank Paswex-l 

Supposed to be an American. He is in the service 
of Erzberger. (/ saw his pass signed by the latter.) 
German propagandist in Russia. Address: Hotel 
Astoria, Petrograd. 

Major (or Captain) Egon von Kapher 

Member of the Intelligence Department, and an ex- 
pert in the trade. He has written several treatises on 
the subject of spying, and from what I learned in many 
long conversations with him, especially after dinner, an 
expert in practice as well as in theory. 

Herr Rader, or Rader 

Secretary to Herr Zimmermann, Permanent Under- 
Secretary of the Foreign Office. "Rader" probably 
his nom de guerre. 

Fraulein L 



A French-Austrian, playing both parts. I met her 
four years ago in New York. She was then " French." 
In Berlin she was " Austrian." A charming, most 
vivacious, clever and attractive young person. I do 
not know whether she was a French or an Austrian spy. 
That she was either the one or the other is certain. 



/ 



N 
Q 
O 



SI 



SPIES AND SPYING — I 85 

In the embarras de richesse of spy data it is difficult 
to know where to begin. 

One of the most phenomenal parts of this organisa- 
tion is their card index system. From what I learned 
about it, it would seem that there are few officers in any 
Army or Navy, few politicians or diplomats, etc., of 
any country, who are not listed in Berlin. 

The most minute details are recorded — character, 
age, financial position, efficiency, hobbies, friends and 
associates. If married, similar details are given about 
the man's wife : whether she is faithful, and, if not, who 
her lover is ; her friends, etc., etc. 

Every country has its chief inspectors, inspectors, 
sub-inspectors and ordinary agents. Woe betide the 
man who is responsible if at the yearly audit some of 
the details prove missing or incorrect. Msmy English- 
men of a certain position will no doubt recall having 
received little typewritten notices informing them that 
if at any time they should be in deed of a loan (whether 
small or large), they can always be accommodated on 
their note of hand alone, etc., etc. Usually they bear 
as signature a good old English name. But the money 
behind it is more often than not German capital. Close 
observation is kept on any officer or N.C.O. who for 
some reason or other is cashiered or discharged. Those 
who are still more unfortunate, viz., those that happen 
to land in gaol, are never lost sight of. British gaols 
have supplied the German Intelligence Department with 
many a recruit. 

Special registers are kept of every foreigner living in 
Germany, and you may be certain that in a country 
where half the population is employed in spying on the 
other half, what the Intelligence Department does not 
know about the foreigner is not worth knowing. They 



86 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

are all part and parcel (the foreign element, I mean) 
of Germany's spy system. They are the " raw mate- 
rial," so to speak. 

One does not like to write about women, but a dis- 
cussion of their system would, indeed, be very incom- 
plete if the fair sex were left out. To enumerate the 
various types employed would need a separate chapter, 
if not a whole book. They are as varied as, shall we 
say, the sex itself. 

As a rule, they are employed in " team work " — i.e., 
they work together with a man. Many of them have 
the air and the manners of the grande dame; others, 
again are charming ingenues. Every one of them is 
fiendishly clever, and they prove every day the fallacy 
of the old theory that a woman cannot keep a secret. 
I have met several of these " ladies " in Berlin ; but 
whereas I had many an interesting conversation with 
the male, the female of the species proved too much for 
me. I never got anything worth writing about out of 
them. 

Another member of the German Spy Staff operating 
in London was a certain Miss Smyth (I do not know 
whether that was her London name). 

She was a charming American girl, chaperoned by 
her British aunt (by advertisement). But after Miss 
Smyth had made many social conquests and connec- 
tions, suddenly all her entertainments ceased. Poor 
Miss Smyth ! Her unscrupulous brother, whom she had 
trusted implicitly, had speculated and lost his and her 
whole fortune. She did not care to return to America 
on account of the disgrace her brother had fallen into. 
Did people think she could find a position as governess, 
companion, or "just anything".? Many offers were 



SPIES AND SPYING — I 87 

received, and as in the household of a certain well-known 
statesman, the children's governess had opportunely 
left, Miss Smyth obtained the position. She stayed 
with them for two years, and amply earned her salary 
from the German Intelligence Department. 

The German Intelligence Department claims exclusive 
knowledge of the preparation of a certain kind of sen- 
sitised paper for copying and photographing plans, 
maps, letters and other documents without a camera. 
Two pieces of glass are all that is needed. The sensi- 
tised paper and the document to be copied are placed 
between the glass, and at night, or in a darkened room, 
are exposed to candlelight for a matter of a few minutes. 
The preparation can also be used for sensitising the 
pages of an ordinary book, novels preferably, or news- 
papers. The impression only appears after develop- 
ment in a certain fluid (somewhat on the principle of 
gas-light developing paper). 

I was told that in this manner long reports contain- 
ing valuable information are being brought out of Eng- 
land to this day. 

One of the cleverest schemes, though, of taking writ- 
ten material out of this country is in the lining of 
clothes. No, I do not mean having thin paper sewn 
inside the lining. That is an old, discarded trick. 
The new dodge is to typewrite the reports on ordinary 
lining material with what are called book-keepers' type- 
writers. Then the stuff is treated with a certain 
preparation, whereupon the writing disappears. A 
friendly tailor does the rest. 

And they defy any British detective to discover such 
reports, which, needless to sa}^, can be quite extensive. 



CHAPTER XII 

SPIES AND SPYING H 

BARON HOCHWACHTER boasted that in Eng- 
land you could buy anything if you had the price. 
" To any foreigner who comes to London with a well- 
filled purse, and who is willing to spend handsomely, all 
doors are open, no matter of what race or nationality 
he may be — German, Jew, Turk, or Negro. He is 
asked to English entertainments, English country 
houses, where he meets everybody he wants to meet 
from Royalty downwards." 

They call this in Berlin, " Mobilisation of the Draw- 
ing-room." From what I subsequently learned, it was 
often also a case of mobilising the " back-stairs " re- 
gions. 

Before leaving Hochwachter, I must mention that he 
is quite convinced that shortly after peace has been 
signed he will return to his old haunts in London. He 
turned over the contents of his luxurious flat in May- 
fair to an English friend who takes care of it for him 
till after the war. " That's more sensible, eh," he 
grinned at me, " than the way in which that fool Miin- 
ster " (referring to Prince Miinster, of Twickenham) 
" arranged his affairs. If he had done the same, then 
the Government would never have been able to touch 
his estate." 

Germany's Intelligence Department overlooks few 
points. They know, as President Lincoln said, that 
you can fool all people some of the time, and some 
people aU the time, but that you cannot fool all the 

88 



SPIES AND SPYING — II 89 

people all the time. They suspected that even England 
would some day wake up to the German danger in her 
midst. And then ..." what about our Intelligence 
Department? " 

The German Intelligence Department is built on such 
sound foundations (this seems rather an ironical adjec- 
tive to use for an institution that is ethically and mor- 
aUy so utterly rotten, but the reader wi]l know what 
I mean), that it can change personnel and working- 
method in an instant and without interrupting the 
smooth running of the great machine. 

I will try to describe some of the new ways employed 
since the war, and let me hasten to add that my knowl- 
edge was gained from a thorough personal investiga- 
tion. 

First, I will deal with the procedure in Germany 
itself. As I have mentioned elsewhere in these notes, 
every foreigner in Germany is registered. This is not 
a regulation inaugurated since the beginning of the 
war, it has existed for many years. He must notify 
the police whenever he moves from one place to another, 
or when he intends leaving the country. I think it is 
no exaggeration to say that the authorities know to 
a few pfennigs how much their guests have in the bank, 
what their income is, how much their yearly expendi- 
ture is, etc., etc. You see, the?/ know the game of es- 
pionage by harmless shopkeepers, traders, small busi- 
ness men, etc., who are to be found in every European 
country. If only the people would take the trouble to 
investigate the matter, they would find that many of 
these " harmless " little shopkeepers spend double and 
treble the amount of money their businesses earn. 

The foreign population of Germany is recorded on 
separate registers and divided into different classes. 



90 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

not only according to their social status, income and 
position, but also according to their intelligence, senti- 
ments and so on. When war broke out all foreigners 
in Germany were " mobilised." The list and card- 
indexes were carefuUy gone over and suitable persons 
selected. American, Dutch and Swiss ranked amongst 
the "favourite" (?) nationalities. German friends of 
the foreigner would be approached. They, in turn, 
threw out feelers towards the " neutral." If it was a 
case of " Barkis is willing," and the man had the neces- 
sary intelligence, he was at once taken in hand and 
tutored into a naval, military, or political spy (some- 
times into all three). 

Foreign subjects, if unsuitable for intelligence work, 
were frequently persuaded to part with their passports. 
Only in very rare cases, I think, have whole passports 
been forged. Why should they be when plenty of au- 
thentic ones can so easily be bought.? 

All this work comes under the supervision of Section 
11 of the Intelligence Department of the Great General 
Staff in Berlin. 

One of the most interesting and illuminating inter- 
views I had in Berlin was with Herr Rader (or Rader), 
Secretary to Herr Zimmermann, Permanent Under- 
Secretary at the Foreign OflSce. 

At the conclusion of the dinner, Rader lost little time 
coming to the point. I think that I cannot do better 
than to record the conversation here. I give it prac- 
tically verbatim. 

Rader: Your profession must be intensely interest- 
ing, Herr Beaufort. I hear you have visited practi- 
cally all the different theatres of war.? 

: Hm, yes, rather! Most interesting, I can 

assure you. It broadens one's point of view, you 



SPIES AND SPYING — II 91 

know, to be able to see different sides of a question. 

Rader: Hm, yes, quite so, ahem! quite so! But, eh, 
well, I do not wish to seem impertinent, but do you find 
it is work that pays? From what I know about these 
newspaper proprietors, they are not very liberal with 
their salaries. 

; Oh, well, as far as that goes, yes, I think you 

are right. Now I come to think of it, they do rather 
underpay us. We ought to have a journalistic trades' 
union — what ? 

Rader: Yes, I often wonder when I talk to you chaps, 
and, of course, I come in contact with a great many 
journalists in my official capacity (that was a lie; he 
had little or nothing to do with bona-fide journalists), 
it strikes me that, considering the amount of energy 
you expend on your work, the amount of brains it takes 
to be a good journalist, you are the worst paid profes- 
sion in the world. Take your own case. A man of 
your accomplishments (I bow), of your linguistic abili- 
ties (I blush with modesty! . . . mentally), your ad- 
dress and your intelligence (I rise and bow and blush 
. . . mentally ) — well, do not think, pray, that I am 
exaggerating, but you should be earning at least 5,000 
marks (£250) a month, which I am sure you do not. 

; (You " register," as they say in cinematogra- 
phy, incredulity, surprise, wonder, etc.) Then: Really, 
you know, Herr Rader, I am afraid that you are try- 
ing what your friend the enemy across the Channel, I 
believe, describes as " Pulling me by the legs." Five 
thousand marks a month? (with expression), why, 
*' lead me to it," as they would say in New York. 

Rader: I can " lead 3'ou to it," and perhaps even to 
a great deal more. There are some splendid opportuni- 
ties these days for " Neutrals," for men of your ability. 
I will give you a rough idea about the work. Strange 



92 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEH. 

as it will seem to jou, even to this day the majority of 
people in France, Russia and England, are still abso- 
lutely ignorant of the real state of affairs, not only in 
Germany, but also of the military situation in general. 
They are deliberately deluded by their governments 
and their Press. We feel convinced that if Germany's 
cause, Germany's invincibility, Germany's sound and 
strong condition, were better known abroad this war 
would soon be ended by public pressure. What can be 
the object of continuing this dreadful process of mur- 
der, bloodshed and destruction? As our Chancellor 
said : " Germany cannot be destroyed." Now, 
some of our best brains, military, political and economic, 
have written clear and popular articles on the present 
situation. Not, mind you, entirely from the German 
point of view, but in a manner in which any intelligent 
and reasonable neutral observer would record them if 
he had the opportunity to see and judge things. There 
are still plenty of influential and reasonable peo- 
ple IN France, Russia and England who would assist 
us in bringing the true facts before their misinformed 
countrymen. Think this over. If, in principle, you 
feel inclined to carry out some really interesting, but, 
above all, some very remunerative work, I will submit 
the matter to my chief. Of course, this work would in 
nowise interfere with your present occupation, as the 
articles are supplied to you, translated and ready for 
publication. 

I inquired whether the " influential " and " reason- 
able people " in France, Russia and England would as- 
sist me personally in placing the articles, and I was 
assured they would. From this I concluded that I 
would be supplied with a list of those " reasonable peo- 
ple " who were willing to assist Germany. Needless to 
say, I told them that I did not require any time for 



SPIES AND SPYING — II 93 

thinking the matter over, that I had quite made up my 
mind to accept the proposal. (I hoped that they would 
continue their revelations, but in this I was disap- 
pointed.) 

" Very well," said Rader ; " Bitterfcld, will you see 
that he meets von Stein " (whoever that might be), 
and addressing himself again to me : " I will take the 
matter up at once, and you will hear from us in a week 
or so." 

But, alas ! before the end of the week an unforeseen 
calamity brought my German voyage of discovery to an 
untimely end. 

Shortly after my return to London I saw at one of 

the night clubs — a favourite rendezvous for those 
gentry — a " neutral " who I knew for a fact was in 
the service of the German Government. I reported him 
to the authorities, but never heard anything further 
about it. 

It is unnecessary to add that when these travelling 
" neutral " journalists receive their final instructions, 
they are not confined to merely trying to place the 
German-made articles. On their periodical return to 
Berlin they are expected to be able to write and give 
interesting reports on what they saw in the countries 
they visited. These reports are strictly for the infor- 
mation of the General Staff. The}^ are not circulated 
in the Press, thus advertising the fact to the enemy that 
German investigators have been at work in their coun- 
try. ^ 

The manner of procedure in neutral countries is 
probably better known. German agents who live there, 

1 It is only quite recently that the first articles giving a neu- 
tral's impressions of London and England have appeared in the 
German Press. 



94? BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

have their own private lists of " Friends of the Father- 
land," very useful in war-time. They know that they 
cannot travel in the belligerent countries themselves, 
but of course their hosts can. These men are, as a rule, 
business men connected with a well-known firm, and are 
extremely difficult to catch. 

You should have at every port of embarkation in the 
United Kingdom officials of every nationality, men who 
know their own language thoroughly. I have met many 
Englishmen who speak foreign languages, but mighty 
few that know enough about them to discover the na- 
tionality of the man they converse with. 

Then there are your Consuls. I returned from Ger- 
many via a neutral country. I presented my passport 
issued in Berlin (my old one did not conform to certain 
German regulations, so I had to change it) to the Brit- 
ish Consul. I paid my two or three shillings, I forget 
how much. He hardly looked at the photograph, 
stamped and signed the back of my passport, and that 
was all. I think the whole formality took about three 
minutes. 

Now that is simply asking for trouble. You must 
have Britishers, I mean born Britishers, as Consuls 
wherever they have the authority to vise passports for 
embarkation to England. You cannot expect a neutral 
Consul to take the same care and interest in investigat- 
ing the bona-fides of alien travellers as an Englishman 
would.-^ Don't be so afraid of stepping on the toes of 
neutrals or even of a neutral government. They will 
get over it. To them it is not a matter of life and 
death. 

If you are too considerate of other people's feelings, 
it may have disastrous results. It may be a matter 
of life and death to many of your countrymen. Is it 

1 This was written before the Holzapfel episode. 



SPIES AND SPYING — II 95 

not better to suspect, to inconvenience a hundred inno- 
cent neutrals and so-called " Britishers," persons of 
German descent, than that one British Tommy, one 
British woman or child should suffer or die? 

If I have a house and my guests do not like my 
servants, my meals, or the way I run it, well, let them 
depart. The same applies to England. Those who do 
not like the conditions of entry or of living here, who 
grumble at any little sacrifices or inconveniences, well 
... let them stay away. During the first year of the 
war the regulations and restrictions with regard to the 
landing and embarkation of aliens at your ports were so 
lax, that for all one knew England might have been in 
statu quo. 



CHAPTER XIII 

SPIES AND SPYING IH 

THE Hotel Adlon, Berlin's principal hotel, is a regu- 
lar clearing-house for spies, spy-hunters, amateur 
spies, and amateur spy-hunters. I do not think that 
I have ever, since the war, spent so many interesting 
hours anywhere as at the Adlon Hotel, after 4 p. m., 
watching the various cliques, sometimes par distance^ 
sometimes at very close quarters. 

A large sprinkling of officers is nearly always present. 
Their tables occupy " strategic positions " in the Court. 
Many of them belong to the Intelligence Department of 
the General Staff. The broad red braid on their 
trousers inspires, of course, confidence and respect. 
The natural conclusion would be, at least with neutrals, 
that a General Staff Officer is above any description of 
spying. 

But beware! 

With few exceptions every foreign j ournalist, business 
man, etc., is an amateur spy-hunter. In order to make 
a capture he will draw every possible cover, and it will 
not be the fault of himself or of his imagination if it is 
a blank. 

Everybody suspects everybody else, and, under the 
guise of neutrality, or even by shamming anti-German 
sentiments, they try to draw you out. 

The valet of your floor knows, of course, every scrap 
of paper, book, map, note, you have in your possession. 
So do the various other secret agents, detectives, or 
whatever they may be called, who rummage through 
your luggage and open your letters, both coming and 




Jn tilt' Polish fiiiJifhuf zones. Man on left of jyirtnrp vns shot at 
the moment of re-loaflin<f 




The fighting near and in the %voocls of Augustowo 



SPIES AND SPYING — III 97 

going. Police-sergeants who want to " inspect your 
passports " are alwaj^s very early birds. Their visits 
are unannounced and unexpected, and, if you have the 
careless habit of sleeping with your door unlocked (and 
have no dog), you may see them sometimes at the foot 
of your bed when you wake up. " They catch many 
that way," the manager of the hotel told me, when I 
complained about one of these nocturnal visits, as un- 
welcome as it was unexpected. 

Be careful of female acquaintances in Berlin. If you 
are seen more than once with the same member of the 
other sex, ten to one she will receive a visit from a 
member of the " Criminal Polizei," and it takes a strong- 
kneed woman in Gemiany to be proof against it. A 
friend of mine had made the acquaintance of a very 
charming young German woman, the wife of an officer. 
They met on various occasions, and, sure enough, one 
morning, the " Frau Hauptmann " (Mrs. Captain) re- 
ceived a visit from the police-sergeant. His clumsy 
attempts to hide the real object of his call failed la- 
mentably with the quick-witted lady. When the de- 
tective tried to make her promise secrecy she told him 
that she would do nothing of the kind ; in fact, she told 
him that she could hardly wait to tell her friend about 
it, and actually went to the telephone while the sergeant 
was still in the house. She asked our mutual friend to 
come and see her at once, which he did. Her attempts 
to make Mr. Policeman wait were unsuccessful. They 
do not work that way in Germany. They first try to 
intimidate their witness, if that proves necessary. The 
average German is scared to death of the " Criminal 
Polizei." In my friend's case the lady was told that 
her foreign acquaintance was suspected of being a spy. 
" Did she know anything about him .'' " he asked. 



m BEHIND THE GERIVlAN VEIL 

" Why, of course she did. They used to play together 
at school," etc. " Well, did he ever ask her leading 
questions as to where her husband was and in what 
regiment.'' Did he never ask to read any of the letters 
that came from the front.? Did he seem interested in 
the German Navy.?* Did she know whether he visited 
the railway stations.'' What was his real business.'' 
Had he very much money and how did he spend it.'* 
In short, could she think of anything that might in any 
way be regarded as suspicious? " But she could not. 

Not every visit is as meagre in results as the one 
described above. If your girl friend happens to be in 
a position where she is less independent than the wife of 
an officer, for example, if she is an actress, or, perhaps, 
a dancer, that is better for the police. In that case 
it is easy to enrol her, or, shall we say, " press " her, 
into the services of the Vaterland. Under dire menaces, 
nay, vile threats, such as being placed under police 
supervision — the most dreaded thing in Germany — 
the girl is cross-examined, and at the same time ordered 
"Maul halten" ("to keep her mouth shut") to the 
" Auslander " (foreigner). I am writing here, in both 
cases, of actual occurrences. 

Such an incident came to my knowledge quite acci- 
dentally. One afternoon in Unter den Linden, I ran 
into a young German actress, whom I had met a few 
days previously. In full daylight she was crying, the 
tears streaming down her face. I thought she had had 
bad news from the front, so I stopped her and offered 
whatever comfort I might be able to give. 

It was a case of " mobilisation," but it had nothing 
to do with the front. She had just left the police- 
station, where for the last three hours she had had to 



SPIES AND SPYING — III 99 

undergo the third degree from A to Z. She was abso- 
lutely exhausted, physically and mentally, and before 
she knew it, she had confided the whole story to me. 
The police had called her up the night before, and told 
her servant over the 'phone that the " Police Head- 
quarters Criminal Department " was on the wire. 
Thereupon the servant promptly got scared, packed her 
trunk and went off. The next morning the girl was 
asked to come down to the police-station. She thought, 
on her wa^^, that she would drop in at the hotel where 
her friend lived, and tell him about it. At the hotel 
one of the " friends " or colleagues of the man saw her, 
and evidently knowing a bit more about the investiga- 
tion on foot, promptly telephoned to the police-station. 
Ten minutes later a police-sergeant came to the hotel, 
and without much ceremony ordered the girl to come 
with him to the station. There she was given the third 
degree unmercifully, bullied and coerced, and, finally, 
after three hours set at liberty, but given to understand 
that she was " mobilised " for Germany. 

A few months in such an atmosphere and you will 
find yourself unconsciously looking into the mirror and 
beginning to wonder who 3'ou really are. You almost 
doubt whether the declaration on your passport that 
" the above photograph and signature are those of the 
bearer," is stating the truth. 

The effect can best be described in the words of my 
dear old English tutor, who for two years tried to teach 
me to pronounce your " th," and then gave it up in 
despair. Said he : " Certain da3'^s with you have an 
effect upon my brain like a kick in an ant-hill." That's 
about the effect Germany had upon my mind. 



CHAPTER XIV 

A GERMAN FABLE 

IN this chapter the title, like the moral, will come 
at the end. 

It is the translation of a German pamphlet, very 
widely distributed, especially in neutral countries. » 

Once upon a time there was a very large forest, 
wherein lived all sorts of animals, both of the earth and 
of the air. Although there were many different kinds 
and breeds, they lived in peace and harmony. This 
story will only deal with a few of them, viz., the Great 
Cock, the Little Cock, the Bear, the Double-headed 
Eagle, the Lion, and one other, but about him anon. 

As the Lion, owing to his great strength, was looked 
upon as the King of Beasts, he reigned supreme over all 
the animals. The others did not submit to this ar- 
rangement from choice, but merely because they were 
afraid of him. 

One fine day, when the Lion was meditating as to 
whether the Bear was not becoming too powerful, the 
Great Cock appeared in his den. He looked very dis- 
hevelled and knocked about. Several of his feathers 
had been pulled out, and he was bleeding badly. 

" What has happened to you ? " grunted the King, 
who hated being disturbed. " I have just had a fight 
with a Young Eagle," replied the Big Cock feebly, " and 
he almost killed me. If you want to retain your king- 
ship, you had better watch him, because verily I believe 
that before long he will be as strong, if not stronger, 

than you are." 

100 



A GERMAN FABLE 101 

** Impossible ! " howled the Lion. " I have never even 
noticed the Young Eagle . . ." 

" Neither had I until to-day," retorted the Big Cock, 
as he slowly and sadly limped off. 

The Lion returned to his meditations and swore a 
speedy revenge. But, strange to say, since that very 
day, the Young Eagle seemed to cross his path wherever 
he went. When he visited his favourite feeding-grounds, 
he found that the Young Eagle had been there before 
him. When he tried to take a well-earned rest and 
enjoy a sun-bath, a big shadow robbed him of the sun- 
light, and, looking up, he invariably discovered the 
Eagle. It seemed to the mighty monarch as if the 
Eagle had found out all his favourite nooks and corners 
of the forest. The worst of it was that he could fly, 
while the fat Lion could hardly drag himself from his 
couch. In spite of his enormous size and strength the 
Lion was a coward ; he was afraid to attack the great 
bird single-handed. So he began to plot. He decided 
that all the inhabitants of the forest should unite to kill 
the interloper and usurper. 

He carefully worked out his plans and then addressed 
the Big Cock : " The Eagle has done you a great 
wrong, therefore you must revenge yourself." " But," 
objected the Cock, " he beat me before, he'll probably 
beat me again." 

" No, he will not, not this time," replied the Lion, 
" because I am going to help you, and between the two 
of us we will soon finish him off." 

" Oh, that is different," crowed the Cock ; " that will 
be fine. I shall start at once to make the necessary 
preparations to attack him." 

Then the Lion visited his friend (?) the Bear. 

" Have you heard about this disgusting Young 
Eagle.'' " he inquired. " I understand he is stirring and 



102 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

plotting all kinds of crimes against you. He intends 
to steal your food and your best lairs in different parts 
of the forest." 

" You don't say so," growled the Bear. " I have not 
noticed anything, but, of course, if you say so, it must 
be true. But how can I stop him.'' " 

" By fighting him," counselled the Lion. 

" Single-handed .P " inquired the Bear. 

" Of course not," sniffed the Monarch. " / shall be 
with you, and the Big Cock will help, too." 

" But how are we going to entice him on to solid 
earth? " queried the Bear, somewhat confused. 

" That is quite simple. I have arranged all that," 
explained the Lion. " You must attack the Double- 
headed Eagle, and, as the Young Eagle loves him, he 
will at once come to his assistance." 

" Good ! " exclaimed the Bear enthusiastically ; but 
after a few moments' reflection he asked : " But what 
are the other animals of the forest going to think when 
the three of us fall upon the Young Eagle ? " 

" Hm, that is true," acquiesced the Lion. " We must 
try and find some excuse." And, rising, he angrily 
shook his mane and beat his tail. " I have it," he sud- 
denly growled. " The Big Cock will challenge the 
Young Eagle. He knows I am going to help him. 
Well, the Young Eagle cannot reach the Cock without 
flying over the establishment of the Cockerel. That 
will give us sufficient excuse to fall upon the Young 
Eagle." 

" How clever, how very clever you are ! " growled the 
Bear. " I shall of course do as you advise." 

The Lion left quite satisfied. " One more call," he 
reflected, " and then I can go to sleep again." His last 
visit was to the Cockerel. 

" I have just had some dreadful news," he cried out 



A GERMAN FABLE 103 

on meeting the Cockerel. " Before you are many days 
older, the Young Eagle will try to fly into your little 
kingdom and take possession of it. You must oppose 
with all your power this sinful act." 

" But how," the Little Cock wanted to know, " am I 
going to stop the flight of an Eagle .'^ " 

" / shall be there to help you," said the Lion mag- 
nanimously. 

" Very good," said the Cockerel ; " then of course I 
shall do as you advise." And he hopped away to pre- 
pare for the fray. 

When, shortly afterwards, the Lion, from his safe 
hiding-place, noticed a large black spot in the sky, 
coming nearer and nearer to the forest kingdoms, he 
smiled contentedly, curled himself up, and went to sleep. 

In the meantime the Bear attacked the Double-headed 
Eagle, and the Big Cock crowed about the " insults " 
it had suffered from the Young Eagle. The latter, to 
silence him, went to call on the Cock. But to be able 
to reach him, he had to fly over the State of the Cock- 
erel. The little fellow bravely resisted the Eagle's ad- 
vance, but with one stroke of his big wings the King 
of Birds smashed him to earth. Then the Cockerel 
began to shout for the Lion. 

The Lion murmured something like : " I declare war 
on the Eagle," then turned round and prepared to go 
to sleep again. 

" But I need your help at once," moaned the Cockerel. 

" The Big Cock and the Bear will help you. The 
Eagle will soon be annihilated," comforted the Lion. 

The next message that disturbed his slumbers came 
from the Big Cock : " I need your help," it said ; " the 
Cockerel has been killed, and the Bear has a very sore 
head." 

" I'll soon be with you," replied the Lion. " What a 



104. BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

lot of idiots you are, after all my good advice, not to be 
able to kill that Young Eagle." Bvrt when he was en- 
tirely awake he was much taken aback at the tnirn of 
affairs, and prepared to hide himself in the depths of 
the forest. Then came the third message, from the 
Bear this time. 

" I am so knocked about and bleeding that I cannot 
continue the fight," he said. " You must protect your 
own camp." 

Then the Lion called on all the animals of the forest : 
" The Eagle is attacking us all and will steal the prop- 
erty of every animal on earth and in the air. Come, 
every one of you, and fight for your forest. Come and 
let us kill the Eagle." 

But only the deadly silence of the forest answered 
him. Shaking with fear, the Lion ran, and dived deep 
into the woods. But he could not escape the Young 
Eagle, who pursued and killed him. 

Then all the other animals of the forest reappeared 
and shouted: 

" The King is dead ! Long live the King ! " 

In the market-place of a certain town are offered for 
sale a lion-skin, a bear-skin, a handful of cock-feathers 
and a dead cockerel. 

The tyranny of the Lion is no more. 

Free over hill and dale, over town and country, in the 
blue ether of the Universe, the Great Eagle now flies 
and reigns supreme. 

And the name of the story: " Eine Fabel" ("A 
Fairy Tale "— a fable). 

One would almost give the author credit for a sense of 
humour. Only this is of the peculiar kind that acts 
like a boomerang. 



CHAPTER XV 

6EKMAN WOMEN 

" IVf OBILISATION of the kitchen." Since the Crown 
lyji Princess coined this expression the term has be- 
come a regular German watchword. Woe betide the 
woman who has not answered the call to the kitchen 
or to the hospital, as the case may be. 

One of the first things I noticed in Berlin was the en- 
tire absence of ladies — using the term here in its nar- 
rower social sense — in public places. Every after- 
noon Berlin used to take tea at the various large hotels 
— the "Kaiserhof," the " Adlon," the "Esplanade," 
etc. To-day these places are crowded with officers, 
both in uniform and in mufti, and many of them are 
accompanied by women of another kind. In days be- 
fore the war no officer ventured to appear in public 
with a lady who was not what is called " Gesellschafts- 
fiihig " (which may be translated, "fit for society"); 
but now the barriers are down. I was having tea one 
afternoon at the " Kaiserhof " with a captain of the 
War Office Staff, and I asked him, " Will you tell me 
where all your ladies are? I mean, where is Society.? " 
He looked at me with surprise. " Why," he answered, 
" don't you know that all our women, our real German 
women, are mobilised as well as our men? These are the 
days when the girls who have had a practical ' Haus- 
frau ' education are having their innings. We need 
the housekeeper and the nurse nowadays, not the Frau- 
lein professor, doctor, advocate, or what not." 

He was absolutely right, as I found out later. At the 
outbreak of war a great many women and girls with 

105 



106 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

university degrees, stenographers, book-keepers, etc., 
working in offices, thought that at last their chance had 
come. They were going to show that they could re- 
place the men at the heads of departments, or at what- 
ever responsible duty might have to be performed. 
Most of them were sadly disappointed. In the larger 
offices the heads of firms — if they were not called to 
the colours — replaced their own managers, working 
double time; the staffs were cut down to half, and so 
were the salaries. The " modern " German girl, who 
used to turn up her nose at the " mother's-help " sort 
of education, is the one who finds herself in dire straits 
now. 

The local administrative authorities are everywhere 
calling on the women for advice in matters in which 
women are — or should be — experts : house-keeping, 
catering for the wounded, nursing, the running of large 
kitchens for the poor, the opening of canteens at sta- 
tions along the main lines where the troop trains pass. 
They are asked to direct sewing classes, to supervise 
the mending of uniforms and other wearing apparel. 
They are expected to help by exercising economy in the 
use and distribution of food. Professors of chemistry 
give special lectures all over the country to teach 
women the food value of every article of diet. In short, 
the demand for " Hausfrauen " in well-nigh as large as 
that for soldiers. 

A number of women's clubs have been organised for 
the purpose of helping those employed in the musical 
profession, which is suffering greatly through the war. 
A large hall in the Reichstag building has been placed 
at the disposal of these clubs, and there they meet, 
sometimes two or three of them in the day. The women 
members pay a contribution of something like ten shil- 
lings a month, and, of course, donations are gladly ac- 



GERMAN WOMEN 107 

cepted. Out of these funds the artists are paid. I 
have forgotten the figures shown me, but there are thou- 
sands of women in Berlin who have joined these clubs. 

Some of the concerts take place at private houses, 
and the rule has been made that absolutely no refresh- 
ments shall be served on such occasions except to the 
artists ! The women sit from three to six, knitting, 
talking, or listening to the music. For any one who 
knows Germany and the German woman's love for her 
" Kaffeeklatsch," which used to be unthinkable without 
cake, coffee and whipped cream, this is one of the most 
remarkable effects of the war. I never thought that 
anything in the world could keep a German woman 
separated from " Kaffee und Kuchen " at four o'clock. 

At whatever small entertainments are given, war 
poetry and " Feldpost-Briefe " (letters from the front) 
are the most popular items on the programme. The 
war has hatched an entire new brood of poets and writ- 
ers, and the professors are having the time of their 
lives. I have never seen such a mass of topical litera- 
ture, pamphlets, war novels, etc., of every sort and de- 
scription anywhere. 

I had a long talk one day with Baroness von Below, 
the American wife of the well-known German General. 
She is taking cooking lessons now, so that she may be 
able to do her share. " Germany was morally on the 
decline before the war," she told me. " The hunt after 
pleasure and novelty was beginning to resemble what 
you find in the American multi-millionaire class. The 
good old German family life was fast becoming out of 
date among the younger generation. Now see what a 
change! The little housekeeper, whose horizon never 
extended beyond her kitchen and larder, has now be- 
come — wonder of wonders ! — one of the most im- 



108 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

portant members of this great organisation. The 
much-ridiculed ' Hausfrau ' has been victorious all 
along the line ; she is the strongest ally of her husband 
in the field. Another thing this war is teaching us, 
though, is that a political education is quite as necessary 
for women as for men. This war is going to revolu- 
tionise the position of women in this country, if not 
throughout the world." 

So said the General's wife; and every German-born 
woman with whom I spoke voiced the same opinions. 
I went to dinner one night at the house of Professor 
Archenhold, the director of the Treptow Observatory, 
near Berlin. His wife had organised cinema lectures 
in one of the halls of the building for wounded soldiers, 
and for the women and children of the neighbourhood. 
The particular quarter in which the Observatory stands 
has a large Socialist element, and the Frau Professor 
fraternises with them many hours a day. I met some 
of the women and talked to them. One of them said 
to me: "I have had a letter from my husband (in 
France) telling me not to send him so many things, as 
they are so well taken care of. Every two weeks he 
sends me some of his pay, and I am happy to say that 
I can now write back to him in the same way, telling 
him that he need not send us any money, as the people 
here are taking such splendid care of us." 

Frau Professor Archenhold impresses it upon them 
that they should write nothing but cheerful, pleasant 
letters to their husbands in the field, and not bother 
them with tiresome details of difficulties at home. 
Whether such lectures or advice are inspired from 
" higher up," I cannot say ; but I know that many of 
the better-class women talk to the working classes in 
that strain. 



GERMAN WOMEN 109 

The big shops do a tremendous business in " field-post 
parcels." Anything up to fifty grammes can be sent 
post free, up to five hundred grammes (about one 
pound) a parcel costs ten pfennigs (one-tenth of a shil- 
ling). He must be a very friendless soul, indeed, in the 
trenches who does not receive his weekly share of such 
packages. In every family where I have been I found 
everybody, young and old, packing, addressing and 
sending all sorts of things to the front. And it was 
not Christmas-time, either ! During my tour through 
the Eastern part of Germany we passed trainload after 
trainload, all marked " Liebesgaben " ("love-gifts"), 
and one of Hindenburg's adjutants told me that the 
gifts of woollen things had been so numerous that the 
soldiers were simply swamped with them. It was a 
standing joke in Hindenburg's army that nobody could 
get a bar of chocolate without agreeing to take a pair 
of socks as well. 

As regards the efficiency of the " Field-post," a good 
story is being told against the Postmaster-General, or 
whatever his title is. When the Kaiser returned from 
the front — last February — he met that eminent of- 
ficial, and exclaimed with great surprise : " But Herr 

, where is your Iron Cross? " The official seemed 

as much sui*prised as the Kaiser, and explained that he 
never had one. " Well, probably it was delayed," re- 
marked the Kaiser. " I sent it to you, by parcel post, 
from the front — as a Christmas present." 

Running all through the life of those remaining at 
home, both men and women, is the constant anxiety 
" to keep up appearances." It seems to me to be the 
keynote of German life to-day, and one of its weak- 
nesses. It makes it extremely difficult to obtain any 



110 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

real insight into conditions. One has to be very cir- 
cumspect when making inquiries. I heard one man say 
to an American journalist, who seemed to him to be get- 
ting too inquisitive : " Well, if you want to learn se- 
crets, you had better go to the General Staff. I am 
sure they wiU be delighted to show and teU you every- 
thing." To refer you to the War Office or the General 
Staff is an easy habit many people have acquired ; as a 
rule, it means that they are not going to satisfy vulgar 
foreign curiosity. 

Most of the theatres are open in Berlin, but that also 
is more to keep up appearances than for business pur- 
poses. The salary of every actor and actress has been 
cut down to a half, sometimes to one-third. Dancers 
and members of the chorus receive an average of three 
pounds a month. At the department stores conditions 
are worse. Most of the girls in the stores of Wert- 
heimer and Tietz, and in the " Kaufhaus des Westens," 
earn from ten to twelve shillings a week. The inade- 
quate pay of so many women workers has had its in- 
evitable effect on morals. The combined influences of 
poverty, temptation, and the nervous strain of war- 
time, have proved too much for many an unhappy girl. 

To find out the spirit of the women of the middle 
classes, I jestingly asked some of them whether the 
Government had made any arrangements as to their 
conduct in case of invasion. " We don't need the Gov- 
ernment to tell us what to do," was the reply. " If any 
Englishman tried to get into Berlin, or, for that matter, 
into any other German city, we'd scratch his eyes out." 
"And what about the French?" I inquired. "Oh!" 
came the answer, with a shrug of the shoulders, " they 
are harmless little fellows." 

One evening, about eleven, the wife of a higher Ger- 



JuttV>»vl5 




German Tars WixmxG a Wreath ok Mixes ARorxo Miss 
Britannia 



GERMAN WOMEN 111 

man officer called me up on the telephone ; she seemed to 
be in a great state of mind. " I am in awful trouble," 
she explained, " I don't know where my husband is, or 
rather I do know, but I can't find the place on the map. 
Do tell me where it is ! " And then she began to spell 
some name that sounded like a combination of Przemysl, 
and some of your Welsh names. I could not make it 
out. The only thing was to taxi up to her house and 
help in the search, which I did. After half an hour we 
found it. The name of the place was " Mntereczerem " 
(spelling guaranteed); it is situated about ten miles 
north-west of Nicolaiken, in East Prussia. She was 
greatly relieved (and so was I). The same lady some 
time ago travelled a day and a night, in slow trains, 
in order to catch a glimpse of her husband at one of the 
stations where he had to change. She saw him there 
for about half an hour. I know that a great many 
women are doing — or rather did — the same. The 
Government soon stopped this practice, as it gave an 
indication of the place to which troops were going, and 
the information might reach the enemy. 

In every public place all over the country notices are 
posted warning every German, whether soldier or ci- 
vilian, man or woman, against discussing their relatives' 
whereabouts, their letters, plans, etc., because — so it 
runs — " spies of both sexes mingle freely amongst the 
public, and the most innocent remark, the merest sug- 
gestion, which might seem quite harmless to any of you, 
may cause the death of thousands of our soldiers." 

It struck me very forcibly how almost fanatically 
pro-German English and American women, married to 
Germans, have become. All are thorough converts to 
the German cause. I am aware of several instances 
from personal knowledge. 



112 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

There is, for example, the American Baroness von 
Below mentioned above. (Her husband, General von 
Below, successfully conducted several important oper- 
ations in Poland.) Her outgoing mail every week runs 
into hundreds of letters, mostly to America. The ma- 
jority of them are written by her personally. 

" I try to write ten letters every day, explaining the 
German cause to my friends at home," she told me. 
" It is the least we women can do, while our husbands 
are daily risking their lives." 

At Munich I met an old friend, also an American lady, 
who a few years ago married General Baron von Nagel, 
now chief of the Bavarian General Staff. For hours 
and hours we argued, and it was not her fault that I did 
not entirely change my mind about Germany's position 
in this war, and her share in its origin. She and her 
mother, also American by birth, but married to the 
Bavarian Count Frohberg, conducted a regular private 
Press bureau, employing something like ten girl ste- 
nographers and typewriters. I was inundated with 
their typewritten articles. One of them begins : " Has 
England hypnotised America ? " Another one starts 
with the query : " Is Germany a greater menace to the 
world's peace than England, this lost tribe of Israel, 
whose hatred of the whole world is proverbial .f* " And 
again, in another one I read : " England hates Amer- 
ica. She despises France. The English occupation of 
Egypt and the Fashoda affair were not calculated to 
draw England closer to France. Russia is the bete 
noire of England." One of the articles, for American 
consumption of course, speaks of a cable sent by Eng- 
land to Japan, thanking her for her aid in sinking the 
German ships off the Falkland Islands. " Forty-three 
ships against five ! And they rang their bells and hung 
out their flags, for it was a famous victory ! " 



GERMAN WOMEN 113 

The conclusion, though, of most of such diatribes lets 
the cat out of the bag: 

" To starve Germany, to make her a pariah among 
nations, what a crime against civilisation! America 
can stop this terrible war by refusing to sell arms to the 
belligerents, and by not assisting England to paralyse 
the world's commerce. Is there no Great Physician 
who can heal this malady of nations, and stop the de- 
population of Germany, England and France? " 

I have quoted from a few of these writings to show 
how thoroughly the German atmosphere does its work, 
and with what eager enthusiasm foreign-born women in 
Germany have taken up her cause. These examples are 
by no means the exception, they are the rule. 

At the house of a well-known German official, I met 
a lady who had recently lost her son. With great pride 
she passed round, for general perusal, a letter received 
from his captain. I wanted, discreetly, to pass it on 
when it reached me, but was urged to read it. It was 
an interesting epistle, and the conclusion was very 
characteristic of the curiously mixed German tempera- 
ment. 

The captain's letter ended with: 

" I laid the photograph of his fiancee and some flow- 
ers on his heart before we closed the grave." 

It was what she described as a " divine " and glorious 
account, and I am sure it afforded much comfort to the 
otherwise heart-broken mother. 

I think " complex " is a very mild description of the 
German character. 

Speaking about letters reminds me of a very grim 
story about a certain epistle, alleged to have been writ- 
ten by a German nurse to the mother of a French 
wounded soldier. The copy that was shown me read: 



114 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

"Berlin. . . . 

" Madame, 

" Your son is seriously wounded, and is in a 
critical condition. His life depends entirely on my 
care. 

" While attending him my mind runs back to a battle- 
field somewhere in France. My own son, slightly 
wounded, was lying there, but instead of being nursed 
and cared for as your son is at present, he was killed 
by a revolver bullet from one of your cowardly com- 
patriots, perhaps even by the very man now under my 
care. I am not a saint, I am only human. I want to 
revenge my dead son. It is easy. To-night an over- 
dose of morphia will do justice for the death of my boy. 
I am sending you enclosed your son's last good-bye. 

"M. W. 

" Red Cross Nurse. 

" P.S. — Madame, your son is safe. He will be well 
within two weeks. I have merely wanted to make you 
live for a minute the long hours of inconsolable mourn- 
ing which will now be my life." 



CHAPTER XVI 

HUNTING WITH THE CAMERA 

IT will seem strange, but it is a fact, that the man 
with a camera in the German lines is not treated 
half as badly as he is on allied territory. In France he 
is looked on as a dangerous criminal, and degenerates 
into a hunted pariah. (I am speaking from personal 
knowledge on both fronts.) 

In Germany, if you have a permit, which is not at all 
difficult to obtain if you represent a neutral paper, you 
can practically photograph any one or anything — 
with two notable exceptions. Anything connected with 
the Navj'^ or with Zeppelins is taboo. You must not 
show a camera anywhere near the North Sea coast, the 
naval bases, or the Kiel Canal. If you have no permit, 
as was my sad case, the best thing is to act as if you 
had one, and it is a hundred to one that nobody will 
bother you. 

From the oldest General — not even excepting Hin- 
denburg — to the youngest recruit, all soldiers dearly 
love to have their pictures taken. If the photographer 
happens to be a neutral, so much the better. In that 
case they combine duty and patriotism with pleasure. 
Because surely any photograph of the German Army 
must impress neutral countries with Germany's invinci- 
bility. 

My harvest of snapshots was prolific. It would have 
needed a wagon-load of films to take all the scenes I 
was invited to immortalise. Every one you came in 

contact with had something " sehr interessant," a 

115 



116 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

" priceless " study to show you. Of course, nine times 
out of ten his own effigy was included. 

I soon found that I would have to husband my re- 
serve of films, so, for every real photograph I took, I 
" snapshotted " at least ten others — in theory ! I got 
quite expert in going through the feint of focussing, 
setting, snapping the camera and turning the film. The 
plains of Poland are strewn with cards and addresses 
of soldiers and officers, who think they have been photo- 
graphed, and are still waiting (and, I fear, will con- 
tinue to do so) for the " proofs." 

But I will say they were a most obliging lot. Pris- 
oners or transports were halted; guns were placed in 
position ; travelling field-kitchens or bakeries were 
laboriously turned to the right side of the sun (if any) ; 
market-places were cleared of uninteresting civilians ; 
shells were taken from their baskets ; and one most 
obliging officer even went so far as to fire a few rounds 
of the field-gun (77), so as to enable me to photograph 
it " in action." Curiously enough, the pose he assumed 
betokened a greater affection for the camera than for 
the gun! 

I photographed a spy, a Polish Jew, who had been 
caught cutting the telephone wires to headquarters. I 
did not mean to, but, absent-mindedly, I went through 
the real manipulations instead of the sham ones. They 
suggested I should photograph him while being shot ; 
but I drew the line at that, I am sure greatly to the 
disappointment of the officer commanding the firing- 
squad. 

Then there was the meeting between the German Em- 
peror and the Crown Prince near Longwy. I photo- 
graphed them both, a somewhat foolhardy thing to do, 
considering that I had no permit ! Father and son were 
standing together watching some French prisoners 



HUNTING WITH THE CAMERA 117 

march past. From where I stood I had quite a good 
view of mj royal quarry, but I was anxious to get the 
Crown Prince's very intellectual profile. I flatter my- 
self I succeeded very fairly well. But, as the shutter 
clicked, the Crown Prince started, and, pointing his 
riding-whip at me, shouted: "Who is that?" My 
escort, a Colonel, who, of course, took it for granted 
that I had a permit, sprang to attention, and explained 
that I was a distinguished neutral journalist, and a per- 
sonal acquaintance of General Baron von Nagel.^ 

Though I knew I was perfectly safe — the Colonel 
was responsible for my being there, and, naturally, he 
was not going to minimise my importance — I will ad- 
mit that I had that peculiar feeling down my spine 
which makes you wonder " what is going to happen 
next." 

It was by no means always plain sailing. It is an 
old but tried truism that if you don't have a set-back 
now and again, you begin to think that the world was 
built for your private amusement. I very nearly 
landed in prison for photographing a couple of Zeppe- 
lins. All my films were confiscated except one, an un- 
exposed roll. But I managed, after the rolls had been 
counted, to substitute that one for an exposed film, and 
in that way saved a few Zeppelin pictures. 

All persons who have taken photographs or moving 
pictures anywhere within the war zones must have three 
sets printed, and submit these to the Photograph Censor 
Department of the Great General Staff in Berlin. 

1 General von Nagel was at that time chief of the Bavarian 
General Staff. Some eight years ago I used to know his wife, an 
American lady, very well, and she kindly gave me a letter of in- 
troduction to her husband. I had not met him at the time; in 
fact, some hitches in my progress, which necessitated a sudden 
change of climate, prevented me from presenting that letter, and, 
alas! a great many others. 



118 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

There they are inspected and stamped, and either passed 
for publication or refused. An interesting item of this 
department is that the head of it is also the senior part- 
ner of one of the largest cinema companies in Berlin, 
Messrs. Messter & Co. On the official instructions you 
receive, that firm is recommended for developing your 
films and plates. Herr Messter, through his position 
on the General Staff, is able to obtain free of charge 
for his firm — and makes a point of doing so — copies 
of all photographs and films obtained by neutral pho- 
tographers. 

Just to annoy Herr Messter, I took this matter up, 
acting on behalf of an American cinema operator. I 
claimed that that man ought to receive a certain per- 
centage of the proceeds derived by Messrs. Messter & 
Co. from the sale of his films to German users. The 
answer was that the films taken by neutral photogra- 
phers are only passed for use in neutral countries, and 
that the privilege of exhibiting those pictures in Ger- 
many was a German prerogative! Moreover, that he 
had had his films developed free of charge. 

Some of my films were submitted to the General Staff 
Censor, and, let me get it off my mind at once, it was 
most galling to see many of my hard-earned snapshots 
reproduced in, and paid for hy, German periodicals. I 
made a point of finding out whether they had been gra- 
tuitously distributed through the censor's office. This 
was not the case. They were sold by the firm of Mess- 
ter & Co. to the trade. 

Business is business — even at such a high-class insti- 
tution as the General Staff. 

But why should I grumble? It is a source of the 
greatest satisfaction to me that neither the General 
Staff nor Herr Messter ever laid eyes on the majority 



HUNTING WITH THE CAMERA 119 

of my films ! They were developed after my return to 
London by my very able agents, The Sport and General 
Press Agency. 

To any one looking for excitement, I can thoroughly 
recommend " hunting " with a camera in the war-zones. 



CHAPTER XVII 

" SPIRITUAL HUMOUR " ( GERMAN VARIETY) 

I MUST record a few examples of German war 
humour and sentiment. Wherever I went in Ger- 
many, be it to the Eastern front, Berlin, Kiel, Ham- 
burg, etc., I was regaled with " proofs of Germany's 
unquenchable spirit." 

Two Berliners are discussing the war. One has 
heard a rumour that China is going to join the Allies. 
" Heavens ! " exclaims his friend, " is the whole world 
anxious to become German ? " 

Any railroad station. — Fritz has spent all his money 
and wants to touch Hans for half a mark to buy some 
beer and sandwiches. " Can't be done," said Hans. 
" All I have got left is a five-mark note, and I am sav- 
ing that till I get to London." 

In front of a book-store, Unter den Linden: In the 
window is exhibited a photograph of the Kaiser and the 
Czar embracing each other. Says a cobbler's assistant : 
" Wouldn't I like to be in Wilhelm's place now ! " 

In another book-store photographs of the Kaiser and 
King George are displayed, surmounted by the legend: 
" Cousins." 

*' Well, well, Wilhelm," says a little red-faced woman, 
*' I must say, you have got some fine relations. I'd be 
ashamed of them." 

Of course, the most popular stories are those about 

120 



« SPIRITUAL HUMOUR '♦ 121 

Hindenburg. When the General returned to his head- 
quarters at Lotzen, after the Battle of the Masurian 
Lakes, a large crowd of soldiers and civilians acclaimed 
him as their deliverer, and clamoured for a few words. 

The General stood up in his car, and, pointing his 
finger upwards, gravely said: 

" Thank Him. He did it." 

One day Hindenburg issued an Army Order stating 
that any one who brought him a Russian Hag would 
receive a thousand marks. A few days later a Jewish 
soldier appeared before the General, and delivered a 
Russian standard. " Well done, my son," said the Gen- 
eral, as he pinned the Iron Cross on the brave private, 
" and here are your thousand marks." 

The Jew looked at the thousand-mark note, and then 
timidly asked whether the General would please give it 
him in smaller change. The General wanted to know 
why, as he could not spend it in the trenches. " Ah ! " 
replied the Jew, " you see, Excellency, the Russian who 
sold me the flag is waiting downstairs for his hundred 
marks." 

When the Russian Generals heard about Hinden- 
burg's promise of prize money for captured flags, they 
did the same. While Rennenkampf was in East Prus- 
sia, a large number of German flags were brought to 
him. They were beautiful affairs of black, blue or 
white plush, with gold lettering and gold and silver 
tassels. One day a Russian officer, who knew German, 
noticed these flags, and, when he read the inscriptions, 
burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter. 

The German " regimental standards," for which Ren- 
nenkampf had been paying his thousand roubles a piece, 
turned out to be emblems of various East Prussian 



122 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

" Gesang Verein " ("choral societies"), such as one 
may find in every little village, every hamlet, all over the 
Fatherland. 

At Insterhurg, in East Prussia, where I risked a 
shave, the barber had decorated one of the chairs with 
a placard, " In this chair General von Hindenburg sat 
and had his hair cut." I sat in the same chair, but all 
I can say is, that if the General's hair was cut as 
atrociously as I was shaved, I think he wiU wait till 
after his " triumphal march " into London for the next. 

There is another Hindenburg Jew story which is very 
popular. A Jew was recommended for the Iron Gross. 
Hindenburg thought he would have his little joke with 
the man, and, incidentally, test the strength of his 
commercial instincts as compared with his patriotism. 
" Now tell me, comrade," asked Hindenburg, " which 
would you rather have — the Iron Cross or one hundred 
marks ? " 

The Jew pondered for a second or two, and then 
inquired what the intrinsic value of the Iron Cross might 
be. " Oh, about eight marks, I think," replied Hinden- 
burg. 

" Well, Excellency," said the Jew seriously, " then 
I'll have the Iron Cross and ninety-two marks, if you 
please." 

Of course, there are the usual stories which are inter- 
national. At any rate, I have heard the two following 
ones in both camps. One of the commonest relates to 
the scale of payment for snipers. For every private 
they kill they receive one mark, for a subaltern two 
marks, for a captain three marks, a colonel five marks. 

" And how much for a General.? " you perhaps inno- 




Englishman in Hell 
'T^^o Zeppelins, no Krupp 
Hou-itzers; no submarines'. 
Why, I must be in Heaven!' 



" SPIRITUAL HUMOUR " 123 

cently inquire. The answer is : " Two weeks C.B. ! " 
(" confined to barracks "). 

Then there is the " grateful prisoner " story. 

Two men have been taken prisoner. Impressed by, 
and full of gratitude for, the splendid treatment they 
have received (instead of being tortured to death as 
they had been led to expect), they beg their ^ cap- 
tors to allow them to return. They promise to come 
back at night with at least a hundred others. The 
officer in charge, of course, trusts them, and at nightfall 
the two grateful prisoners promptly return with their 
hundred compatriots. 

A few days after England had declared war, a letter 
addressed to John Bull, London, was returned by the 
German postal authorities with the legend, " Firm dis- 
solved." 

At every railroad station in Germany you can always 
find a large number of officious female helpers. One of 
these, a young woman anxious to do her bit for the 
Fatherland, goes up to a wounded soldier, and asks him 
whether there is anything she can do for him. Would 
he like another pillow, would he like a sandwich, would 
he like some coffee, tea, milk, water.'' But our wounded 
keeps on shaking his head. Finally, the Friiulein asks 
whether she may sponge his face with vinegar. In 
exasperation the offer is accepted. When she has fin- 
ished he says : " Now, Fraulein, I did not want to spoil 
your pleasure, but you are exactly the seventeenth that 
has been washing my face during the last hour." 

The night England declared war on Germany, several 
1 Fill in nationality according as to which side you are on. 



lU BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

very excited Englishmen rushed to the Friedrichstrasse 
Station, and asked the stationmaster the quickest way 
to get to London. " Well, gentlemen," said that suave 
official, " if I were you I would go and inquire at the 
General Staff. They are sure to know." 

Says Thomas Atkins to a few of his brothers-in-arms : 
" Come, lads, let's go and starve the Germans out. 
We'll let them take us prisoner." 

A German N.C.O. has been taken prisoner by a Rus- 
sian N.C.O. He tries to regain his liberty by bribery. 
He offers one mark. The Russian shakes his head. 
No. Two marks ? No. Three marks ? The Russian 
remains adamant. Five marks? Then the Russian 
says : " No ; but I'll let you go and give you five 
roubles into the bargain, if you'll take me with you." 

Two Berliners are sitting in Unter den Linden at 
night. " For heaven's sake, Hans, don't talk so much ; 
people will take you for a foreigner." 

An old proverb has been changed, or rather amended, 
as follows: 

" Speech is silver ; silence is golden, but lying is 
British." 

The inscriptions on some of the railroad cars are 
often quite amusing, and ... telling. 

On a Bavarian troop train near Nuremberg was 
written : 

" Young Lions ! Do not rouse." (" Feeding is per- 
mitted.") 

Same: 

" Be careful ! Bavarians ! " 



« SPIRITUAL HUMOUR " 185 

There is hardlj a car or compartment that is without 
some inscription or other. Usually : " Nach Paris," 
" Nach London," or " Nach Petersburg." 

On a car at Allenstein Station was announced : 
" Next month great public auction. The skin of the 
Czar." (A case of dividing the bear's skin before it is 
caught.) 

One inscription announced : " Change of Name. 
Formerly * William Peaceful & Co.,' now ' Ironeater & 
Son.'" ^ 

A very popular joke is the one about German diplo- 
mats. The story goes that George and William had 
finally come to terms. 

" All right," says William, " you give me back my 
Colonies, pay me so much war indemnity, and I'll with- 
draw my armies from Belgium and France." 

" Right-o ! " says George, and sits down to write out 
the agreement. As he is about to append his signature 
to the document, the Kaiser suddenly exclaims : 

" Hold on a minute. There is one little clause I 
forgot. Of course, England must agree to take over 
all our diplomats." 

Thereupon George in great anger throws down his 
pen and replies: 

"Nothing doing! What do you take me for.?" — 
adding that, if William wants those temis, he prefers 
to go on fighting. (And so thej^ did.) ^ 

An amusing story is told about a Turco, who was 
taken prisoner early in the war. When he came to the 

iThe author of " J'accuse" tells this story, too, in his book. I 
hope he will take my word for it that I am not plagiarizing. I 
heard the anecdote in Germany long before his book came out. 



126 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

prison camp, evidently never having seen, let alone slept 
in, a bed, he refused to lie down. It was only with the 
greatest difficulty, accompanied by physical persuasion, 
that they finally got him under the blankets. 

The next morning, long after all the other prisoners 
had risen, our friend the Turco was still in bed, and he 
positively refused to get up. The only answer he made 
(with a broad smile of satisfaction on his face) to the 
different expostulations of his fellow-prisoners and 
guards was the ejaculation: "Paradise, Paradiso!" 

I came across a most typical example of that curious 
mixture of morbid sentiment and humour in one of the 
hospitals in Berlin. 

Passing through one of the wards I noticed on the 
shelf above one of the wounded the photograph of a 
French private. Thinking that he was a Frenchman, 
I stopped and spoke to him. But he shook his head, and 
the doctor explained that he was a German. 

" What about that French photograph ? " I inquired. 

The explanation was to be found on the back. After 
the French private's name was written: 

" He died a hero's death on 18.12.14 through me." 
(The italics are mine.) 

And that is what Germans call " Geistiger Humour " 
— i.e., " Spiritual humour ! " 



PART II 

MY TRIP TO THE EASTERN FRONT AND 
VISIT TO HINDENBURG 



CHAPTER XVIII 

PRELIMINARIES 

MY TRIP TO the; !EASTERJ^ FRONT AND VISIT TO 
HINDENBURG 

"r I iHIS is all you will need in Germany," said young 
A Hindenburg, nephew of the great General, as 
he gave me a letter of introduction to his illustrious 
uncle. And he was right. That letter proved an Open 
Sesame wherever I went in Germany. It would be 
interesting to know how many people read it (it was 
open, of course) before I finally presented it to Hinden- 
burg himself. 

The only difficulties I met with occurred in Berlin. 
There, what with the bickerings and jealousies between 
the Foreign Office and the General Staff, I was kept 
waiting while the weeks slipped by. At the General 
Staff, as soon as they had seen my letter to Hindenburg 
they were quite agreeable, but the Foreign Office was 
not. They wanted me to serve the usual term of three 
months' apprenticeship, customary for all neutral 
journalists. They wanted to make certain that I was 
really "neutral" (read: pro-German). 

As Baron Mumm, of the Foreign Office, put it: 
" We want to know 3'ou a little bit better, and, ahem ! 
see something of your work." 

When my permits for the Eastern front remained 

elusive I called on those two ever-valiant allies of all 

intrepid and adventurous journalists — " Cheek and 

Chance " — and decided that, pass or no pass, I would 

129 



130 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

go and present my letter to General Hindenburg, or 
. . . land in gaol in the attempt ! 

I must explain here that the whereabouts of Hinden- 
burg's headquarters were by no means as common 
knowledge in Germany, as British or French head- 
quarters are in England and France. It is a carefully- 
guarded secret, and I am sure that not one German in 
ten thousand knew in those days where Hindenburg 
really was. To go off in search of Hindenburg along 
an eight-hundred-mile-front would be like looking for 
the proverbial needle in a haystack, and be, to say the 
least, a somewhat dangerous wild-goose chase. I was 
up against a difficult proposition. 

To ask any one in the know outright would have been 
very unwise, not to say downright foolhardy ; and, any- 
how, would not have had the desired effect. Newspaper 
correspondents, whether German or neutral, were just 
as ignorant of Hindenburg's whereabouts as the great 
majority of people. With the exception of von 
Wiegand, I doubt whether any neutral journalist has 
ever been to Hindenburg's headquarters, or at least had, 
at that time. 

I had to resort to strategy, and I regret to say that 
it took the shape of French champagne, which, as I soon 
discovered, was the most popular beverage amongst the 
officers of the Berlin General Staff. 

You could propose to an officer from the War Office 
or from one of the line regiments a bottle of Rhine wine, 
a cocktail, a whisky and soda, or even beer; but 
" Generalstabler " and " Die Garde " would look 
askance at such common drinks. Nothing but French 
vintage would do for them. But it was money well 
spent. Some of the most interesting and, let me quickly 
add, some of.the most truthful information I obtained 



PRELIMINARIES 131 

was over a bottle of Perrier-Jouet, Pol Roger, Pom- 
mery, and other French wines. If ever it needed proof, 
I found it in Germany that : " In vino Veritas." 

The fates were kind to me. I think Dame For- 
tune must have a sneaking regard for journalism. 
Maybe it is a sign of the times — " It pays to adver- 
tise." 

After a week of night sittings — some of them all- 
night affairs — one of my many esteemed guides and 
advisers, Major Herwarth von Bitterfeld, of the Gen- 
eral Staff, revealed to me- one night in the small hours 
the magic name of Hindenburg's headquarters. 

True, it was not until we had drained the third bottle 
of Pol Roger ; but, then, what are three bottles amongst 
. . . enemies ! 

I knew that Hindenburg had been at the Fortress of 
Posen for some time, so in the course of conversation I 
mentioned the magnificent old castle there as such a 
fit and appropriate place for Hindenburg. 

" Why, man," roared the now genial Major, forget- 
ting that my rooms were flanked by occupied bedrooms, 
and that the hour was 3.30 a. m., " I think you 
m-m-must be d-d-drunk, or are you a-ssleep.'' You're 
a fine sort of wideawake journalist. Hindenburg left 
Posen months ago. At present he is at Fortress Boyen, 
near that dirty little hole, Lotzen. No castle there, I 
can tell you." 

The Major was in that happy condition, the border- 
land between sober and drunk. Perhaps it was a good 
thing, because otherwise he might have seen me catch 
my breath and noticed the sudden gleam in my eyQ. 
It may not strike j'ou as affording cause for so much 
satisfaction, but, all I can say is, that if you had tried 
for six weeks to learn the name of a certain place, and 



132 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

especially one of extreme importance, well ... I was 
satisfied. 

" They do keep changing about," I remarked in an 
offhand way. 

"Rather," acquiesced the Major. "They have to. 
The whole Eastern front is simply honeycombed with 
spies. We learnt from several sources that the Rus- 
sians would rather see Hindenburg shot than take a 
hundred thousand prisoners. They believe that he is 
the keystone, the very heart and brains of our Eastern 
campaign." 

" And isn't he? " I inquired. (This last remark sug- 
gested hidden possibilities.) The Major looked wise — 
that is, as wise as it was possible for him to look in his 
condition. He lifted his glass to me, tried to wink one 
eye, but could not make up his mind which, so winked 
both, and slowly said : " Eh, speaking about our friend 
the enemy, the Russians, here is our daily toast to them, 
' Long life to Grand Duke Nicholas,' or, as our Irish 
friends would say, ' May his shadow never grow less.' " 

After having drained his glass, he wiped his mouth 
and moustache with the back of his hand, and then 
settled down a bit deeper into my best arm-chair. 
" Hindenburg is a great General, but Ludendorff is — 
his Chief of Staff," he pronounced cryptically. " If 
the truth were known, you would find that Ludendorff 
is the real brains of our Eastern campaign." Alas ! at 
this juncture the Major crossed the borderline, and not 
many minutes later was snoring merrily. I wanted to 
get rid of him now, as I had to plan my Eastern cam- 
paign. I telephoned downstairs to the " American 
Bar," and when I heard that some of the Major's 
cronies were still down there, asked that some one should 
be sent up to fetch him. Two of them came, but an- 
other " brimful " hour elapsed before I got rid of them. 



PRELIMINARIES 133 

I learnt the next morning that they continued the ses- 
sion downstairs in the bar till nearly 7 a. m. 

And now to work. " Feste Boyen," " Lotzen," 
" Feste Boyen," " Lotzen," where the devil may they be? 
Truth to tell, I had never heard of either of them, but 
the excellent German General Staff maps soon helped 
me out. Boyen is a small fortress in the Masurian 
Lake district, near the town of Lotzen, and in close 
proximity to the Polish frontier. They lay at quite a 
respectable distance from Berlin. I discovered that if 
I could board one of the special Eastern trains, running 
nightly from Berlin to Allenstein — a ten hours' trip — 
I would then be within about seventy miles of the East- 
ern headquarters. Once at Allenstein, I would have to 
trust to luck once more and either hire a motor, per- 
suade some one to give me a lift, or manage to steal on 
board one 6f the military trains. 

Then I went to bed and slept the sleep of the success- 
ful, the sweetest sleep of all. 



CHAPTER XIX 

BEE.MN ALLENSTEIN 

MEETING WITH YOUNG VON BETHMANN-HOLLWEG 

ARREST IN THE FORTRESS OF POSEN ... IN 
PYJAMAS 

IN the afternoon I went shopping. I bought all that 
was necessary for a winter trip into Poland. True, 
I already had a fair outfit, but, of course, I could not 
be seen leaving the hotel with any luggage. I would not 
have gone far! •! placed my purchases in a suit-case 
and drove to the Friedrichstrasse Station, where I de- 
posited it in the cloak-room. At night I dined at the 
hotel, not omitting to dress as usual, went to the hotel 
office and engaged a seat for one of the theatres and 
proceeded thither. 

The Eastern Express was scheduled to leave at 11 
p. M. At 10 :40 I telephoned from a public call-office 
to the hotel that I had met an old friend and was going 
to spend a few days with him. 

The Friedrichstrasse Station is the Charing Cross 
and Victoria combined of Berlin, only still more im- 
portant. There are few military trains that do not 
either start from there or pass through. That is the 
reason why it is one of the best guarded stations in 
Germany and one of the hardest to get into. 

When I alighted from my taxi at the Friedrichstrasse 
Station, there were a number of soldiers standing close 
to the entrance. They all jumped into position and 

134 



BERLIN — ALLENSTEIN 135 

saluted. That gave me a sudden inspiration. Though 
I was not wearing a uniform, of course, I had the next 
best thing to it. I wore my long British-made auto- 
mobile coat, buttoned high a la militaire, a green peak- 
less cap with a chin strap (quickly lowered), and on it 
the large badge of a neutral coat-of-arms. 

" Here, you ! " I bawled at them in my best imitation 
of a German lieutenant's tone of voice. The effect was 
dynamic. All five ran towards me, saluted, clicked 
their heels, and shouted in chorus : " Zu Befchl ! " I 
don't know to this day wh}^ I did not burst out in a fit 
of convulsive laughter. The situation appealed to my 
sense of humour. I took out my cloak-room ticket, 
gave it to the nearest one, placed a mark on top of it 
(one shilling; the charge is ten pfennigs — i.e., a frac- 
tion of a penny), and, still acting my part, said: " Go 
to the cloak-room and get my bag, pay for it, keep 
the change, but be damned quick about it." " Zu 
Befehl ! " shouted the man again, and there was some- 
thing triumphant in the tone of his voice. There was 
envy in the eyes of his less fortunate comrades. He 
saluted scientifically'^, turned right about in a manner 
that showed his perfect training, and then went off at 
the double for my bag. Though I saw at least a dozen 
other passengers near the luggage office, " my man " 
was back in the twinkling of an eye, and, saluting again, 
asked what my orders were. I discovered suddenly that 
I had forgotten to send an important despatch, so I went 
to the telegraph office, leaving a hundred-mark note in 
the hands of my over-awed private (by the banknote, 
of course), after having shouted to him " Erster Allen- 
stein " (" First class, Allenstein "). Five minutes later 
he met me with the ticket. I could have hugged him, 
German or no German, and almost felt like telling him 
to keep the change. I soon discovered that my ticket 



136 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

was what is called a " Militarbillet." Of course, I was 
much surprised at that, because I never told the man 
to ask for a military ticket ; but it was too late to change 
now, so we passed through the gate, taking the salutes 
of ticket-puncher, two policemen and various soldiers. 

The soldier deposited my bag in a first-class sleeping 
compartment, saluted, and wanted to be off. But not 
so hasty, my friend. I liked the look of that guards- 
man; it gave me an appearance of authority, not to 
say respectability, to have him standing there so 
straight and respectful. I thought it might be a good 
plan to keep him in attendance till my train left. That 
was supposed to be in less than ten minutes, but one 
never knows in war-time. So I told him that I had one 
or two letters to write which I wanted him to post for 
me. I kept him there for nearly twenty minutes while 
I wrote letters to imaginary people, and also gave myself 
several opportunities of hearing that short, crisp, busi- 
nesslike, and very welcome : " Zu Befehl, Herr Offi- 
zier ! " 

Shortly after 11 p. m., on a cold March night, I left 
Berlin on my way to see Hindenburg. " How far would 
I get.? " was a question which frequently entered my 
mind. Dame Fortune still seemed to favour me. 

At the next station (Berlin — Exchange) several offi- 
cers boarded the train. One of them, a very young 
" Fahnrich " {i.e.. Ensign) entered my compartment. 
Of course, he noticed at once my evening clothes, my 
military-looking great-coat, and the badge on my cap, 
and — like a German — was not going to take any • 
chances. (The German reasoning in rendering military 
salutes is somewhat on the following lines : " When in 
doubt, presume he's a General ; you may be wrong, but 



BERLIN — ALLENSTEIN 137 

it's better to treat a Captain as a General, than a Gen- 
eral as a Captain.") So he saluted, clicked his heels, 
bowed and begged my thousand pardons for having to 
disturb me ; but, " if I would graciously permit it," his 
sleeping-car ticket assigned to him the upper berth of 
my compartment. Of course, I did graciously permit 
it, and soon put him at his ease. But though he was 
soon reassured that I was not a General, I made a point 
of showing him my letter of introduction to von Hinden- 
burg, which had almost the same effect. He jumped up 
again, apologised, clicked his heels, etc., and inquired 
whether I was sure I did not mind his remaining there, 
etc., etc. 

He left me, evidently to tell his friends about it, and 
a little later there came a procession of seven of them 
to the door of my compartment, to pay — please don't 
laugh — their respects. One after another they stood 
in the narrow opening, saluted, clicked their heels so as 
to make their spurs ring, and, in short snappy words 
said : " Erlaube die Ehre mich vorzustellen, von 
Plewe " (" I have the honour to present myself, von 
Plewe"), and off he marched to make room for the 
next, who repeated to a word the same formula. In 
that way I met young von Bethmann-Hollweg, cousin of 
the German Chancellor. Be it said right here, I found 
him a very decent fellow. There was no dining or 
restaurant car on that train (most of them had been 
transformed into ambulance cars), but, nevertheless, we 
found conviviality in spirits. Purely as a matter of 
precaution against the cold, I had amongst my pro- 
visions a large bottle of old French cognac. I little 
thought when I bought it in the morning that scarcely 
twelve hours later it would begin its career of usefulness. 
We sat up till after two a. m. — Plewe, von Bethmann, 
young Freiherr von , and another officer whose 



138 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

name I have forgotten. My bottle was soon emptied, 
but was replaced by one from a parcel — a " Liebes- 
gabe " ("love-gift") which a pretty admirer had sent 
to von Plewe. They had been on four days' leave, and 
were now rejoining their regiment. 

I asked them whether they were by any chance pass- 
ing through " Lotzen," and it is a good thing that my 
voice did not reveal all the anxiety that was in my heart. 
Alas ! no ; they were only going as far as Allenstein, 
and from there were continuing by car to Ortelsburg. 
Lotzen was in the opposite direction. What a pity ! 
It would have been so pleasant to travel all the way in 
such congenial company. They assured me that I 
would have no difficulty at Allenstein in finding suitable 
transport to Lotzen, as there were always numerous cars 
passing up and down to headquarters ; and if none of 
these could take me, there were also frequent military 
trains. " Of course," von Bethmann concluded, " any 
one in your position " (I could not help smiling at this 
— mentally, of course) "won't have the slightest diffi- 
culty in obtaining permission to travel by any convey- 
ance that is available." 

Needless to say, I did not sleep much that night. 
First, because of the excitement of the adventure; sec- 
ondly, because I wanted to see as much as I could of 
the places we passed through ; thirdly, because — well, 
never mind the third reason. 

We arrived at the fortress of Posen at 4 a. m. As we 
had half an hour to wait, I thought a little walk might 
be interesting and beneficial! I slipped my great-coat 
over my pyjamas, thrust my bare feet in my pumps, 
and a minute later was out on the platform. 

Posen was at the time, and for that matter still is, 
one of the most important points in the German lines 




At Allenstein Station 

I'on Bethmann-HoUweg, nepheic of the Chancellor, center, 

Lieutenant von Pleive, right 



BERLIN — ALLENSTEIN 139 

of communication. It is a fomiidable fortress and the 
railhead of a number of strategic railroads from east, 
west, north and south. 

All communications with the Eastern front pass 
through Posen. Lines from Breslau (and through 
Breslau to Galicia), from Berlin, Frankfurt, Stettin, 
Thorn, Danzig and Konigsberg meet here. It is, so to 
speak, the point of distribution for men and material 
for the Eastern front. Now that Germany has pene- 
trated further into Russia, and is able to use several 
other points d'appui, Posen is not as vital a spot as 
in those earlier days. Needless to say that it was most 
zealously guarded against spies and " accidents " of any 
kind. 

The Germans believe in the old axiom that an ounce 
of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Foreigners 
were rarely permitted to visit Posen. The few who did 
had to furnish themselves with numerous permits and 
passes. 

Every track of the large station was occupied by 
military trains, mostly filled with troops. One train of 
nearly forty trucks was loaded exclusively with auto- 
mobiles. What an eloquent story the different freight- 
cars told. There were very few German ones amongst 
them. Most of them bore French and Belgian names — 
Lille, Maubeuge, Brussels, Dinant, Liege, Anvers — all 
bearing the usual legend of so many " Hommes " and 
so many " Chevaux." All appearances pointed to the 
fact that Hindenburg was once more shuffling his armies 
about the chess-board Poland. 

That is the place I found myself at one March morn- 
ing about 4 A. M. 

I had felt somewhat tempted to invite my fellow- 
traveller, the young ensign, to accompany me. (It is 



140 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

always well to be properly chaperoned in such places 
as Posen when short of permits.) But considering that 
it was his last night in bed, I had not the heart to wake 
him up and drag him out. I thought of borrowing his 
helmet, and tried it on ; but, alas ! it was about three 
sizes too smaE, and stuck on the back of my head like 
the familiar monkey cap. 

About a hundred yards from the platform I noticed 
a large electric sign : " Restauration." I thought 
that a cup of hot coffee might be an excellent " chaser " 
of my train-sickness, and before long I was blowing 
over a cup of the welcome brew. 

It came near to being the most expensive cup of 
coffee I had ever touched. 

The waiting-room was filled with soldiers and pre- 
sented a picture worthy of the brush of a De Neuville 
or a Detaille. The scene was interesting: Soldiers of 
all ranks, ages, and branches filled the large hall. 
Every one of them was in full field kit, and the majority 
still wore small nosegays on their helmets, in their 
button-holes, and sometimes even in the muzzle of their 
rifles. I did not omit to look at their shoulder-straps, 
just for the sake of curiosity, and discovered that they 
belonged to the 21st, 22nd and 25th Infantry Brigades 
and the 63rd and the 157th Cavalry Brigades. 

They seemed quite cheerful, and several of them were 
singing in quartette or quintette a song telling of the 
future meeting in the Vaterland ! A strange thing I 
noticed was the entire absence of beer. The strongest 
drink any grizzled paterfamilias was drinking was lem- 
onade or soda-water. Naturally I at once jumped to 
the conclusion : " Aha ! shortage." But I was wrong. 
When in an offhand manner I ordered a glass of 
" Miinchener," the waiter promptly carried out my 
order. I was near a group of sergeants and saw them 



BERLIN — ALLENSTEIN 141 

casting envious eyes at the frothing mug. Calling one 
of them over, I inquired about this curious phenomenon 
of Germans drinking lemonade. He soon explained it 
to me. Except at the front — that is, anywhere in the 
firing-line — soldiers cannot buy a drop of alcohol of 
any kind. " Do you know," he said, " that I have not 
had a drop of beer for nearly a month? You see, in 
Poland we can only get it by buying a whole barrel. 
Sometimes we club together, but we have to pay six 
marks (six shillings) for the cask alone. This money 
is refunded if the barrel is returned in good condition 
to the brewery. You can imagine what chance there is 
of that when all available space for transport is re- 
quired for the wounded, or for goods that need re- 
pairing." 

Of course, he had an ulterior motive in telling me all 
this, and it soon came out. Smacking his lips for the 
hundredth time, he continued : " Ahem ! might I ask a 
favour? Would you be so kind as to order another 
glass of beer for yourself, and — ahem ! — permit me 
to drink it ? " And at this he tried to slip a small coin 
(ten pfennigs) into my hand, explaining that of course 
he would pay for the beer himself. 

The situation tickled my sense of humour. Here was 
I in Posen, one of Germany's most important fortresses 
and a symbol of Prussian militarism, innocent of any 
permit, in my English pyjamas under my English great- 
coat, representing an English publication, and being 
politely asked by a German sergeant, who, if he had 
had the slightest inkling of my identity would have torn 
me limb from limb, or at least arrested me, to buy a 
glass of beer for him which he himself could not obtain. 
If this situation does not upset all the laws of probabil- 
ity, I don't know what does. 



142 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

I ordered that glass of beer, and nine more, and paid 
for them with greater pleasure than I ever did for a 
drink before. 

The sergeant and his two friends who had j oined him 
thanked me most profusely, and warmly shook hands. 
The waiter winked an eye at our group every time I 
ordered another " Miinchener," and pretended admira- 
tion for my speed and capacity. 

But when I wanted to leave the waiting-room and 
return to my train, the fun started. I had left the 
platform and entered the restaurant without being way- 
laid at all. But twenty minutes later I found at all the 
doors, beside the usual ticket collector, a policeman and 
a soldier. Shades of Napoleon ! No ticket, no permit, 
no identification paper of any kind, not even a visiting 
card. I had been a fool. 

The policeman looked searchingly at me and seemed 
to compare me with some sort of a description he held 
in his hand. Conscience stricken, I of course jumped 
immediately to the conclusion that my departure from 
Berlin had already been discovered. And after having 
played Lady, or rather " Sir," Bountiful to those ser- 
geants. What beastly luck! 

It goes without saying that they made all the fuss 
they possibly could and strenuously interlarded their 
dissertation with the word " Verboten." Of course, I 
offered to take them to my compartment and show 
them aU the permits in Germany. I explained that I 
had had a sudden attack of some kind or another, cold, 
thirst, anything. I was asked to open my great-coat, 
so as to show that I was unarmed and undisguised. I 
did. The three of them, joined by a group of soldiers, 
stared at my purple-striped pyjamas with deep interest. 



BERLIN — ALLENSTEIN 143 

when suddenly a voice exclaimed " Englander." I can 
assure you that never did a word affect me so. It 
seemed to start in my brain and slowly trickle down 
my spine, oozing out at my toe and returning through 
another one, and going the same way back. " Eng- 
lander " and " Posen." Brr ! The whole audience was 
electrified. Curses ! Why didn't I do in Germany as 
the Germans do and wear a respectable nightshirt. 

And my train was due to leave in about eight minutes ! 

" Ja, ja! " growled a policeman in reply to my pro- 
tests, " Aber Sie sind kein Deutscher." (" Yes, that's 
all very well, but you are not German.") It was finally 
decided to send for the stationmaster and the officer in 
charge of the station guard. When they came we ad- 
journed to my compartment to verify my statements. 
Off we marched. I was in the centre, flanked by a 
policeman on one side and a soldier with a loaded rifle 
on the other. Half a hundred men, mostly military, 
followed us, and I heard many an ominous whisper of 
" Spion " and " Englander." At first I intended to 
take them to my own compartment and try the old trick 
of showing them Hindenburg's letter. But on second 
thoughts I feared that after all this fuss, and being 
without a permit, the letter might prove insufficient 
for once. When we boarded the sleeping car, I went 
straight to von Bethmann-Hollweg's berth, woke him 
up, and privately explained the situation. I did not 
omit to mention that the officer of the station guard 
was a mere infantry subaltern. Bethmann-Hollweg was 
out of his berth in half a second, clapped on his helmet 
and put on his tunic. He wore what the authoress of 
" Elisabeth and her German Garden " describes as " the 
night attire that is still, thank Heaven, characteristic of 
every honest German gentleman." The effect was 



lU BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

startling. He looked like a military Amazon. Thus 
clothed, he rushed out into the narrow corridor, and 
faced my would-be gaolers. 

I wish I could reproduce here verbatim Bethmann- 
HoUweg's homily. It was so beautifully, utterly and 
characteristically German. It was magnificent. It 
was a classic. Oh! such language. His words made 
the very carriage shake ; at least, they had that effect 
upon the luckless young lieutenant, the fat policeman 
and the private. 

In a voice that would have wakened the dead, Holl- 
weg demanded to know how they dared have the imperti- 
nence to molest his distinguished foreign friend.? Did 
they realise who I was? Did they know that I was a 
personal friend of General von Hindenburg and on my 
way to join his Staff.? Did they know who he (himself) 
was? His name was von Bethmann-Hollweg, Captain 
in the 3rd Dragoons. How did they dare have the im- 
pertinence to enter this private carriage, how did they 
dare to arouse a car of officers — officers, sir — this to 
the young lieutenant — who are in the fighting line, not 
a hundred and fifty miles behind it, growing fat and 
lazy ! Perhaps they would like to see his pass? Would 
they? 

Well, by all the " pigs' snouts '' in Germany, if they 
did not get out of his car in two shakes, he would have 
them kicked out by his servant. 

That, as far as it is fit for reproduction here, is about 
the substance of this nocturnal oration, call it curtain 
lecture, if you like (in view of Hollweg's attire), which 
once again made me a free man. 

During the entire harangue the three had stood at 
attention, literally shaking in their boots. They needed 
no second " Raus " ("Get out") to make them run. 
They disappeared as fast as ever they could pick their 



BERLIN — ALLiENSTEIN 145 

way over topboots and other military paraphernalia in 
the dark corridor. 

That is how I escaped Posen gaol, and who knows 
what else. 

Even to-day I can raise a laugh at the memory of 
Bethmann-Hollweg in his peculiar get-up, the torrential 
flow of abuse and sarcasm that fell from his lips, and the 
terrified officials who took to their heels as soon as ever 
they could. The whole situation was ludicrous in the 
extreme. 



CHAPTER XX 

ALLENSTEIN 

WE arrived at AUenstein about 9 :30 a. m., only 
ten minutes over scheduled time, which, consider- 
ing the fact that troop and ambulance trains had been 
running all night, was very good work. We went to 
the hotel " Deutsches Haus " and had an excellent 
breakfast. In order to procure a bread ticket we all 
had to take a room. I saw not the least sign there, 
although within comparatively short distance of the 
Polish frontier and of the Russians, of any shortage of 
food. The bread ticket seemed merely a matter of 
form, because we received a great deal more than the 
small coupon marked " 25 gram " entitled us to. 

Early in the war the Russians visited AUenstein and 
were there for four days. I have talked to scores of 
Germans, inhabitants of the town, and did not find a 
single one amongst them who had the least complaint 
to make concerning the conduct of the " Russian hordes 
and barbarians," as the Huns call them. The Mayor of 
AUenstein was decorated by the Kaiser with the Iron 
Cross, and, if ever there was a man who deserved it, 
it was that mayor. He should be made ambassador. 

The story of how he earned it will bear re-telling, 
especially as it has the additional merit of being true. 

When the Russians came within ten miles of AUen- 
stein, Mayor Zuelch, accompanied by several of the city 
fathers, met them. 

Mayor Zuelch, when he was brought in the presence of 
the General in command, handed over the gold keys of 

146 



ALLENSTEIN 147 

the city, and begged him to consider the place his. The 
Russian General — evidently knowing his German — 
invited the Mayor and his city councillors to remain 
with him until they reached Allenstein. Incidentally, he 
warned them that if any tricks should be played the 
most severe counter-measures would be taken ; and that, 
if the Russian troops should meet with any treachery 
on the part of the townspeople, Allenstein would be 
burnt. The Mayor protested his goodwill, assuring 
him that there were no German soldiers left at Allen- 
stein, and that the citizens would not commit any act 
of war. " Therefore, my dear General," pleaded the 
diplomatic mayor, " since Allenstein from to-day on 
to all intents and purposes becomes as much Russian 
as Petersburg is, why should you destroy it? You 
would be destroying your own property ! " 

I obtained some very interesting information at Allen- 
stein throwing further light on the German character. 
When I was making inquiries among the natives about 
the conduct of the Russians and asked whether there 
had been any plundering, the answer was startling: 

" Yes, there had been a good deal of ransacking of 
shops and restaurants, but not by the Russians. The 
day before they occupied Allenstein — that is, on Aug- 
ust 25th, (1914) — the population absolutel}' lost its 
head. The majority of them, with their beds, trunks 
and all belongings that were transportable, left by road 
and rail, and at nightfall the number of inhabitants had 
shrunk from forty thousand to five thousand. The 
remainder thereupon ran riot, plundered the shops, res- 
taurants, the station buffet, and even private houses. 
The mob was absolutely past control. I was assured 

BY SEVERAL WELL-KNOWN CITIZENS THAT THEY HAD NOT 

EVEN THE EXCUSE OF HUNGER. When a sober, though 



148 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

panic-stricken, population starts plundering its own 
city, what can one expect from soldiers, drunk with the 
lust of battle, intoxicated by wine and rum, and in the 
enemy's country? 

Only after the arrival of the Russians was order 
restored. Before the main body of Russian troops 
entered the city, sentries with loaded rifles were placed 
in front of every shop, hotel and restaurant. They had 
instructions to fire at any one, friend or foe, who tried 
to enter those premises except on legitimate business. 

Russian sentries protecting a German city from its 
own rabble ! Indeed, here was a pretty story. 

I have been through every part of Allenstein, but 
not a house, not a tree, had been damaged or destroyed. 
When I wandered through the streets and parks and 
listened to the stories of the late Russian invasion, my 
mind flew back to Belgium ; I thought of Namur, Lou- 
vain, Termonde, Nieuport, Dixmude, Ypres. . . . 
. And the Germans speak of " Russian hordes " ! 

At night, during dinner, while talking with one of the 
garrison officers, I compared the condition of Allenstein 
and East Prussia in general with that of Belgium, as 
I had seen it in the early days of 1915. 

" Ah ! that was quite a different matter," he told me. 
" You see, the AUensteiners were polite to the enemy ; 
they simply bowed their heads to the inevitable, and bid 
the conquerors welcome. What would you? This was 
war, and one has to swallow one's pride sometimes. But 
Belgium — why, those people had offered resistance, 
had actually fired at the German troops. Think of 
that, sir, civilians firing at German soldiers ! " 

I have learnt the value of silence these last two years, 
so I did not enter into an argument by asking the officer 
by what right the Germans had invaded a peaceful 
country with which they had no quarrel. 



ALLENSTEIN 149 

There is one criticism, though, that I must make 
about the Russian command at AUenstein, viz., the 
shortsightedness of not having blown up the two promi- 
nent railway bridges. 

AUenstein is a point where six railroads, from as 
many different directions, meet. It was at that time the 
most important centre for the movement and distribu- 
tion of troops in that part of the war zone. It is my 
opinion that it should have been the first care of the 
Russian command to have had everything in readiness 
to blow up those two bridges. That would have dis- 
organised for a considerable time the German lines of 
communication. The Germans suddenly returned, and 
in large numbers. The Russian troops in AUenstein 
had to withdraw in great haste. At the eleventh hour 
two men tried to destroy the bridges, but both were shot 
before they were able to carr}' out their object. Those 
two bridges stand to-day as they did before the 
war. 

Here, again, the genius of the mayor worsted the 
Russians. The day after their arrival at AUenstein the 
Russian General informed the mayor that he was going 
to blow up the two railway bridges on the southern side 
of the town. The ma^^or remonstrated with him, and 
pointed out that this would be not only useless, but 
actually prejudicial to their own interests. German 
trains would never utilise them again ; but, on the other 
hand, it was more than likely that ere long the Russians 
themselves would need them for military transport en 
route for Berlin ! ! ! 

How it was possible that the Russians had no infor- 
mation of the German army corps that was advancing 
on their right flank is a riddle to me, and to all who 
have followed this part of the campaign. Where were 
the Russian aviators.'' 



150 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

The porter of the hotel " Deutsches Haus " was also 
decorated. As it appeared that he had been in his 
present job since long before the war, I wondered how 
he had earned his Iron Cross. He told me. It was a 
clever story, and I made a point of verifying it. After 
the main body of Russians had left AUenstein, four 
Russian Staff officers, who had been on an automobile 
reconnaissance, returned to the hotel. There they 
learnt that all their colleagues had left, and that the 
Germans were at hand. It seems that they had some 
important documents in their rooms which they were 
anxious to save. They rushed to the elevator, ordered 
the attendant to take them upstairs, to the third floor, 
and told him to wait. A few minutes later, when they 
descended, the lift stopped half-way between the second 
and the third floor. They smashed the roof and tried 
to climb out, but they could not reach the next floor. 
Their shouts for help met, of course, with no response. 
They remained imprisoned in that lift for over an hour. 
When the Germans arrived, strange to say, the mechan- 
ism suddenly started working once more. The German 
Uhlan officers " liberated " the captives, but only to 
make them prisoners in another form. 

That porter knows a thing or two about elevators 
and electrical engineering. 

I think this is one of the greatest hard-luck stories 
I have come across during the war. 

My train acquaintances left me in the afternoon for 
their ultimate destination, the small town of Ortelsburg, 
some fifteen miles south of AUenstein, and in a district 
that has seen much fighting. 

Before they left we all wrote a number of picture 
postcards, and, of course, according to German custom, 
everybody signed his name to everybody else's message. 




•»«.'^ 



Lieutenant von Bethmann-Hollweg, Who Has 

Since Been Killed, on the Right, and 

THE Author 

Photograph was taken at AUenntein Station 



ALLENSTEIN 151 

Bethmann sent a card to a mutual acquaintance at the 
Foreign Office in Berlin, which he asked me to sign. I 
took great care that my signature was an unreadable 
hieroglyphic. Still, after all, it was perfectly safe, be- 
cause I was entrusted with the posting of the cards. 
I thought it wiser not to set the official mind wondering 
who the " charming journalist " was that Bethmann 
mentioned. (I posted it a month later from Stettin on 
the day I bid farewell to the Fatherland. ) 

Before I left, Bethmann had taken me to the head- 
quarters of the 20th Army Corps, commanded by Gen- 
eral Count von Schlieffen. In the absence of the Gen- 
eral, he presented me to Major von der Goltz, nephew 
of the late Field-Marshal. General von Schlieffen was 
expected back about 6 p. m. When I returned at that 
hour, von der Goltz introduced me to his chief. I must 
frankly admit that, German or no, I found him a most 
delightful, genial and courteous man. I produced — I 
wonder how many times I had done so before — the 
precious letter of introduction to General von Hinden- 
burg. 

He read it, and then inquired what he could do for me. 
I told him that I was anxious to get over to Lotzen and 
present my letter. 

" Oh, we will soon arrange that. I am going on an 
inspection trip to-morrow morning to Nicolaiken, which 
is only about twenty miles from Headquarters. If I 
cannot take you there myself I will get you a car." 

" I hope you have not brought too much luggage," 
he added, smilingly, and then warned me : " But re- 
member, 6 :30 A. M., my friend." 

I would not have minded if it had been 4 :30. 

Really, I began to get worried ; such is the perversity 
of human nature. Everything was running as smoothly 
as if it had been mapped out for me beforehand, and 



152 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

I — I distrusted my good fortune. It just seemed too 
easy. Where was this much vaunted German thorough- 
ness? where was that German carefulness, shrewdness 
and system ? Here I was without a permit, without any 
military document whatsoever, only my letter to Hin- 
denburg, which, for all they knew of its authenticity, 
I might have written myself. Here was I in the German 
lines hobnobbing with officers of all ranks and planning 
motor trips with the General commanding an army 
corps. It really seemed ludicrous. My belief in the 
infallibility of the German system had received another 
rude shock. 

But I was punished for my ingratitude and distrust 
of Dame Fortune. 

I spent a most interesting half-hour with General 
von Schlieffen. He showed me a number of magnificent 
German Staff maps of Poland, pointed out to me the 
various Russian and German positions, and told me a 
great deal of Hindenburg's plans for the future. When 
I bid him good-bye I had to promise him that we would 
meet at dinner later in the evening. I was almost out- 
side the door of the map room when he suddenly called 
out : " Of course, Herr Beaufort, you have all your 
passes and permits from the Berlin General Staff in 
order ? " 

Well, that dished me. Wasn't this disgusting, wasn't 
this absolutely heart-breaking.? After having bluffed 
my way from Berlin to close on the Polish frontier, 
almost within earshot of the Russian guns, after . . . 
What was the use, what did anything matter now.? I 
felt like turning round and telling the General to go 
ahead and do his worst. 

Re-entering the room, I feigned great surprise at his 
question. Why, of course, I had my passport, and 



ALLENSTEIN 153 

then that letter to Hindenburg, also an introduction to 
General von Below — yes, most assuredly, all my papers 
were in order. 

Yes, yes, he kncvv^ all that ; but what he meant was a 
permit to visit the front and the official pass issued by 
the General Staff in Berlin, necessary in order to be 
able to enter the " Etappenlinie " (" Lines of Com- 
munication "). 

Again I looked surprised. " Oh, really ! Well, no ; 
you see, I only want to go and shake hands with the 
famous General. I do not wish to go to the front at 
all. Oh, dear no ! all that would come later on, when 
the journalists go in nice little batches of six, on per- 
sonally-conducted tours of the battle-field. No, this 
was merely a preliminary journey to go and present a 
letter of introduction." My God ! how I talked, and 
how I tried to side-track him on to another subject. 

But it was no use. He would insist on getting back 
to his subject — the Berlin permit. I had acted abso- 
lutely against all precedent. How did I know where 
Hindenburg was.'* Who had told me? It was a great 
secret. How had I got to AUenstein? How had I 
got into the Friedrichstrasse Station and the train with- 
out a permit? and a dozen similar questions. It was a 
complicated business. 

He called Major von der Goltz into the room and told 
him the situation. Von der Goltz was a sport. He 
observed that since I had got this far, it might be just 
as well to let me finish my trip, and suggested telephon- 
ing to Lotzen. In that way they could shift the re- 
sponsibility on to Headquarters. " I would be only too 
delighted to take you without all this fuss," explained 
von Schlieffen ; " but we must obey orders, and I might 
get into awful trouble myself. You are in the lines of 
communication, where no civilians except those that live 



154 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

in the district are permitted without a special pass." 
I suppose I should have been thankful that I was not 
locked up at once. He promised to telephone to Lotzen 
and ask whether he might bring me over the next morn- 
ing. He would let me know the answer when we met 
at dinner. 

Huh! I could have told him the answer right there 
and then. You see it is a rule that has no exception, 
that when it comes to asking a favour over the tele- 
phone, especially when there is a doubtful element in 
the case — and a war correspondent these days always 
is a doubtful element — the surest and simplest answer 
is invariably " No." This rule is international, it ap- 
plies to all countries and to aU languages. I assure I 
speak from bitter and manifold experience. 

I walked back to the hotel, less chirpy than I had left 
it an hour or so ago. At eight o'clock his Excellency 
appeared, and with many assurances of regret reported, 
as they say in Parliament : " The answer is in the 
negative." He was very sorry that he would have to 
miss my charming society on the morrow; but one of 
General Hindenburg's Staff Officers had told him that 
I could not possibly continue my journey under the 
circumstances, and would either have to return to Berlin 
and arrange the matter there, or telegraph to the Berlin 
General Staff to forward a permit at once. Oh, yes, 
I could see them in Berlin breaking their necks to send 
me a permit " at once " ! 

I decided that the best thing would be to return to 
Berlin and " arrange things there " ; at least, that is 
what I told the General. 

Of course, I assured him that I had been a perfect 
ass not to have thought of that when I was in Berlin; 
but, then, no doubt he would understand that we unmili- 



ALLENSTEIN 155 

tary nations have not the least inkling about military 
regulations and necessities. 

He felt very sorry for me and insisted upon settling 
the dinner bill. 

There was a train that evening at 11 p. m., twenty- 
four hours after my departure from Berlin, and, as he 
pointed out, he was reluctantly obliged to send me back 
by it. At first I intended to carry out his orders, but 
once more that irrepressible journalistic spirit of ad- 
venture rebelled. With what result you will see in the 
next chapter. 



CHAPTER XXI 

ALLENSTEIN FESTE BOYEN (loTZEn) 

ABOUT 10:30 I bid the kindly General good-bye, 
and was again assured how sorry he was not to 
be able to have the pleasure of my company to-morrow, 
etc., etc. As I could not get a cab or taxi, he called a 
private and told him to carry my bag for me to the 
station. At first I wondered whether that was merely 
an excuse to have me watched, but I was mistaken. 

I was beginning to enjoy the protection, privileges 
and dignity which the company of a private soldier lent 
me. At the station I tipped the man and he disap- 
peared at once. The guard at the restaurant door had 
seen me come in with the private carrying my bag, and, 
Germanlike, was not going to take any chances. He 
was as polite, courteous and helpful as he could pos- 
sibly be. I inquired about trains. " Ah, your Excel- 
lency " (it did sound nice in my journalistic ears, and 
to my uneasy conscience), " it is difficult to say what 
delays there may be. The down train is an hour late 
already, and the express to Berlin has just been re- 
ported held up without any definite orders at Korschen 
(some thirty miles further east). Large movements of 
troops. Hindenburg at it again," he added confiden- 
tially. The waiting-room was crowded, but I found a 
corner somewhere with a chair, and, spreading out my 
maps on the table, I started to write my diary and jot 
down my impressions. This, of course, attracted con- 
siderable attention, which, I shall always maintain is 

156 



ALLENSTEIN — FESTE BOYEN 157 

NOT a bad plan in Germany. The German who has 
an3'thing on his conscience sneaks along in dark shad- 
ows, fights shy of the daylight, and tries to remain as 
unnoticed and humble as possible. So he judges that 
everybody else will do the same, and, ergo, anybody 
who walks in the middle of the street, with his head well 
up, MUST be some one in authority. Now and again my 
friend the assistant stationmaster came in and reported 
on the situation. Once or twice I heard him say " For- 
eign Attache to Hindenburg's Headquarters," in reply 
to various inquiries made by some of the passengers and 
officers. 

When I found the entire train service all topsy-turvy, 
I decided that I would leave my destination in the hands 
of the fates — a philosophical attitude to take, if you 
are waiting for a train in the heart of an important cen- 
tre of communication. My argument was as follows : 
" The goddess of journalism has protected me thus far. 
Very well. The first train that reaches this station, be 
it passenger or troop train, going East — towards Hin- 
denburg's Headquarters — or West — back to Berlin 
— no matter, I shall get into it and leave everything else 
on the knees of the gods." 

Midnight came and still no sign of a train. One 
o'clock, two o'clock. I think by that time I was the 
only civilian left in the waiting-room. The others had 
returned to the city, deciding to wait till the next day, 
rather than spend half, or perhaps all night on the floor 
of the waiting-room. At 2 :30 — i.e., after three and a 
half hours' waiting, the assistant stationmaster rushed 
up to me and announced with great satisfaction that 
" Ein Militarzug " ("troop train") was due in about 
five minutes. " Where for ? " I inquired indifferently, 
at least so I tried to make it sound. " For Korschen 



158 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

and Insterburg," he answered. " You will change at 
Korschen, where you will have no difficulty in finding 
another military train to take you on to Lotzen." 

Well, the die was cast. I did hesitate for a fraction 
of a second, in which a hundred fears and objections 
crowded through my brain. You see, I could no longer 
act the part of an ignorant foreigner, unaware that he 
was in the lines of communication. I had been warned 
by Count von SchliefFen, so, if arrested, I had no defence 
whatsoever. I doubt whether I could have maintained 
that I got into the wrong train. Well, faint journalist 
never won fair story, so en avant once again. My af- 
fable friend, the assistant stationmaster, commandeered 
a soldier to carry my bag for me, and out we marched 
on to the platform, and through a tunnel to the next 
one, where a few minutes later the snow-covered troop 
train pulled in. 

In most German and neutral stories about military 
trains I think it is always understood that the men are 
singing in chorus, waiving their helmets and shouting: 
" Nach Petersburg," " Nach Paris," " Nach Calais." 
Well, all I can say is that during my three months' pil- 
grimage I have seen, met, and travelled in a good many 
military specials, but, with very, very few exceptions, 
I have heard no singing, no shouting, and little of that 
much-advertised German " Humour." In most com- 
partments into which I glanced, ten men (the full com- 
plement), with their entire field kit, were packed to- 
gether as close as sardines in a box, and, in the majority 
of cases, they were either sleeping or trying to do so. 
The faces, far from showing excitement, showed fatigue 
and weariness, and I heard many a sigh of " Ach, wie 
lange noch, wie lange noch." 

When they were singing, it was as a rule a sentimental 



ALLENSTEIN — FESTE BOYEN 159 

old song, with some new additions, called, " I had a 
Comrade." The words are somewhat like this: 

" I had a comrade, a better one you'd never find. 
The drums called us to battle, and he marched at my side. 
Gloria, Victoria, with heart and hand. 
For the Fatherland, for the Fatherland. 

" The birds in the forest are singing so sweet, 
In the home-land, in the home-land where once more we'll meet. 
Gloria, Victoria, etc. 

"A bullet then came a-flying; whom shall it strike, thee or me? 
It hit him in the breast, and he lay at my feet. 
He stretched out his hand and bid me farewell. 
In all eternity he will remain my good old comrade." 

This is the most popular German war song of the day. 
Except here and there in garrison towns, when troops 
were marching to or from the station, I rarely heard 
" Die Wacht am Rhein " or " Deutschland iiber Alles." 
Those two songs are what is described as " order songs." 
The tempo of the " Good Comrade " is brisk, and it is 
easy to march to. The melody, like the words, was 
tender and sad, but very tuneful. The song itself is 
very old, but the " Gloria, Victoria " part is a war 
addition. 

Oh, these digressions! But it is difficult to avoid 
them when trying to record such a kaleidoscope of 
impressions. 

The military special was crowded with sleeping sol- 
diers, but the stationmaster found a first-class compart- 
ment for me in which there was only one officer. I 
should have liked for a change to travel third with the 
soldiers, and obtain some local atmosphere, or what, 
in newspaper parlance, is described as " human interest 
material." 

But travelling third class in Germany is a very un- 
wise thing to do, for any one except a German. Trav- 



160 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

elling third and stopping at anything but first-class 
hotels are amongst the important " don'ts " of a for- 
eign newspaper man in Germany. If I may be permit- 
ted to express an opinion on the subject, I think that 
one of the causes that led to the downfall of my esteemed 
colleague and fellow-explorer, Mr. Goeffrey Pyke, was 
the fact that he hid himself in humble third-rate Berlin 
hotels. It was a great mistake. He should have gone 
straight to the Hotel Adlon. For any one in search of 
news and information it is the most profitable as well 
as the safest place in Germany. 

Several civilians tried to board this train, but the 
railroad employes pushed them aside and bawled, with 
a liberal accompaniment of curses, that this was a 
" Militarzug," and for soldiers only. Oh, how often 
did I laugh in my sleeve ! 

My travelling companion was not very talkative. 
He was more than half asleep when I entered the com- 
partment, so, to my disadvantage, he lost the homage 
paid to me by the very obsequious stationmaster. Such 
a pity ! I might have continued being " Excellenz," 
and, who knows, perhaps have been " excellenced " into 
Hindenburg's presence. There is nothing so contagious 
in Germany as a title. We had scarcely started when 
our train stopped, and was side-tracked to permit the 
up express to pass. It was the Berlin night train ! 

I had missed — I may say now escaped — it by ten 
minutes. 

At Korschen, situated between Allenstein and Inster- 
burg, I had to change to a little branch line that would 
take me to Lotzen and Hindenburg. For some reason 
or other most of the military expresses I boarded 
stopped anywhere from a quarter to half a mile outside 
the station; Korschen was no exception. 



ALLENSTEIN — FESTE BOYEN 161 

As no passenger train was in sight no passes were 
demanded ; nevertheless, several porters shouted some- 
thing about " Train for Lotzen, military only." Well, 
I had to be military once more. I played the old trick 
of calling a soldier to carry my bag, and side by side 
"we marched past guards and soldiers towards the train. 

A few first, second and third-class coaches were sand- 
wiched in between a larger number of freight cars carry- 
ing, judging by their inscriptions, ammunition, wheat, 
barbed wire and " Liebesgaben." Indeed, one might 
say, all that was near and dear to the heart of a soldier. 

When dawn broke through a leaden sky it revealed a 
rolling, snow-covered country, bare as a Western Ca- 
nadian prairie. Here and there on the horizon was a 
clump of fir-trees, but that seemed the sole vegetation 
in this part of the country. It was barren, bleak and 
gloomy. The houses of the occasional hamlets and 
small towns we passed were all built of red brick, and 
nowhere did I see the slightest trace of a garden. It 
was nothing but prairie, lakes and marshes on all sides. 
Brrr ! what an inhospitable country, what a terrible 
battlefield! Talk about the inundations of Flanders, 
the mud round Ypres — why, they were Kew Gardens 
compared to this place. 

At 7.30 A. M. we reached Fortress Boyen, Lotzen. I 
was cold, tired, hungry, sleepy, and, to be quite honest, 
just a bit nervous. I realised that I was skating on 
very thin ice, and that one break would land me in gaol. 
My entry was not very auspicious. First thing I knew 
I was in a row with an ancient Landsturm ticket-col- 
lector, who insisted that I had not given him a ticket. 
He was quite right. I had no ticket to give him ; but, 
of course, it would have been suicidal to admit that. I 
had to speak very harshly to him before he clicked his 
heels, " found " my ticket, and apologised. 



162 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

At the modest little hotel, immodestly called " Kaiser- 
hof," I snatched two hours' sleep. Of course, such a 
thing as a bath was not known in the place. I shaved, 
ate a hearty English breakfast, and about 11 a. m. pro- 
ceeded with a beating heart, and wondering where I 
would be an hour hence, towards the ugly Town Hall 
where Hindenburg's headquarters were established. 



CHAPTER XXII 

HINDENBURG 

YES, if the truth be told, I must say that I felt just 
a wee bit shaky about the knees. I wondered 
what view they would take of my perseverance, worthy, 
I am sure, of a kind reception. 

I would wager that in the whole of Germany there 
could not be found one journalist whose hair would not 
have stood on end at the mere suggestion of travelling 
to Hindenburg's headquarters without a pass. Why, 
he would sooner think of calling at the Palace " Unter 
den Linden," and of asking to interview the Kaiser. 

I think I must describe to you the way I appeared at 
headquarters. At Allenstein I had bought, the day 
before, a huge portrait of Hindenburg; it must have 
been nearl}' thirty inches long. 

Under one arm I carried the photograph, in my hand 
my letter of introduction, and in my other hand a huge 
umbrella, which was a local acquisition. On my face I 
wore that beatific, enthusiastic and very naive expres- 
sion of " the innocent abroad." I had blossomed out 
into that modern pest — the autograph maniac. 

Army corps, headquarters, strategy and tactics were 
words that meant nothing to me. How could they, 
stupid, unmilitary foreigner that I was ! It was a pure 
case of " Fools will enter where angels fear to tread." 
You may be sure that my subsequent conversation with 
the Staff captain confirmed the idea that I was inno- 
cent of all military knowledge, and that I probably — 

163 



164. BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

so he thought — did not know the difference between 
an army corps and a section of snipers. 

Why had I come to Lotzen? Why, of course, to 
shake hands with the famous General, the new Na- 
poleon ; to have a little chat with him, and — last, but 
not least — to obtain his most priceless signature to my 
most priceless photograph. What? Not as easy as 
all that, but why? Could there be any harm in grant- 
ing me those favours? Could it by the furthest stretch 
of imagination be considered as giving information to 
the enemy? What good was my letter of introduction 
from the General's dear nephew? Of course, I would 
not ask the General where he had his guns hidden, and 
when he intended to take Petrograd, Moscow and Kieff. 
Oh, no; I knew enough about military matters not to 
ask such leading questions. 

But joking apart. On showing my famous letter I 
had no difficulty whatsoever in entering the buildings 
of the General Staff. The first man I met was Haupt- 
mann Frantz. He didn't seem a bad sort at all, and ap- 
peared rather to enjoy the joke and my "innocence,"- 
at imagining that I could walk up to Hindenburg's 
Eastern headquarters and say " Hello ! " to the General. 

He thought it was most " original," and certainly 
exceedingly American. Still, it got him into the right 
mood. " Make people smile," might be a good motto 
for itinerant journalists in the war zones. Few people, 
not excepting Germans, are so mean as to bite you 
with a smile on their face. Make them laugh, and half 
the battle is won. 

Frantz read my letter and was duly impressed. He 
never asked me whether I had any passes. He advised 
me to go to the General's house, shook hands, and wished 
me luck. 

Phew! I was glad that my first contact with the 



HINDENBURG 165 

General Staff had come off so smoothly. I had been 
fully prepared for stormy weather, if not for a hurri- 
cane. Cockily, I went off to Hindenburg's residence, a 
very modest suburban villa not far from the station, 
and belonging to a country lawyer. There was a bit of 
garden in front, and at the back ; the house was new, 
and the bricks still bright red. Across the road on two 
poles a wide banner Avas stretched, with " Willkommen " 
painted on it. 

Two old Mecklenburger Landsturm men guarded the 
little wooden gate. I told them that I came from 
Great Headquarters, and once more produced the letter. 
They saluted, opened the gate, and one of them ran 
ahead to ring the door bell. 

I walked up the little gravel path with here and there 
a patch of green dilapidated grass on either side. I 
remember the window curtains were of yellow plush. In 
the window seat stood a tall vase with artificial flowers 
flanked by a birdcage with two canaries. It was all 
very suburban, and did not look at all like the residence 
of such a famous man. An orderly, with his left arm 
thrust into a top-boot, opened the door. In a tone of 
voice that left no chance for the familiar War-Office 
question: " Have you an appointment, sir? " I inquired 
whether the Field-Marshal was at home, at the same 
time giving him my letter. The orderly peeled off his 
top-boot, unfastened his overalls, and slipped on his 
coat. 

Then he carefully took my letter, holding it gingerly 
between thumb and third finger, so as not to leave any 
marks on it, and ushered me into the " Wohnzimmer," 
a sort of living and dining-room combined. It was the 
usual German affair. A couch, a table, a huge porce- 
lain stove, were the prominent pieces of furniture. All 
three were ranged against the long wall. The straight- 



166 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

backed chairs were covered with red plush. On the 
walls hung several monstrosities, near-etchings repre- 
senting the effigies of the Kaiser, the Kaiserin, and, of 
course, of " Our " Hindenburg. There was the usual 
over-abundance of artificial flowers and ferns so dear to 
the heart of every German Hausfrau. 

The two canaries lived in the most elaborate home- 
made cage. (I understand they were the property of 
the "Hausfrau," not of Hindenburg!) On the table, 
covered with a check tablecloth, stood a bowl contain- 
ing three goldfish. The floor was covered with a bright 
carpet, and in front of one of the doors lay a mat with 
" Salve " on it. Over the couch hung a photographic 
enlargement of a middle-aged soldier leaning non- 
chalantly against a door on which was chalked " Kriegs- 
jahr, 1914." Over the frame hung a wreath with a 
black and white ribbon, inscribed " In Memoriam," tell- 
ing its eloquent story. 

Behind me was a map of the Eastern front, and 
pinned alongside of it a caricature of a British Tommy 
sitting astride of a pyramid and pulling a number of 
strings fastened to the legs, arms and head of the Sul- 
tan, who was apparently dancing a jig. 

That room impressed itself upon my memory for all 
time. I often dream of it. 

I had waited only a few minutes when a young officer 
came in, who, bowing obsequiously, wished me a very 
formal good-morning. I took my cue from the way he 
bowed. He explained that the General was out in the 
car but was expected back before noon. Would I con- 
descend to wait? Needless to say, I did " condescend." 

I forgot to mention one point in my meditations. 
When I took the chance of continuing East instead of 
returning to Berlin, I thought there might just be a 



HINDENBURG 167 

possibility that the Adjutant or Staff Officer who had 
spoken with von SchHefFen had entirely taken it upon 
himself to say " No," and that it was not unlikely that 
the General knew nothing whatever about my letter or 
my contemplated visit. If my surmise was correct, I 
would stand a sporting chance, because it was hardly 
to be expected that out of the thirty-odd officers com- 
prising the Staff, I should run bang into the very man 
who had telephoned. 

I soon knew that the officer in immediate attendance 
on Hindenburg was not aware of my contretejnps at 
Allenstein on the previous day. Neither did he inquire 
after my passes. You see, they take these things for 
granted. Would I prefer to wait here or come in his 
office, where the stove was lit.'^ Of course, I thought 
that would be more pleasant. I thought, and am glad 
to say was not mistaken, that probably the young 
officer felt he needed some mental relaxation. This will 
sound strange, but I have found during my travels 
through Germany, that in spite of the many warnings 
not to talk shop, every soldier, from the humblest pri- 
vate to the highest General — I am sure not excepting 
the War Lord himself — dearly loves to expatiate on 
matters military, his ambitions and hopes. This one 
was no exception. He chatted away very merrily, and 
more than once I recognised points and arguments 
which I had read weeks ago in interviews granted by 
General Hindenburg to Austrian journalists. He quite 
imagined himself an embryo Field-Marshal. 

He showed me several excellent maps, which gave 
every railroad line on both sides of the Polish frontier. 
They certainly emphasised the enormous difference and 
the many advantages of German versus Russian rail- 
road communications. Many of his predictions have 
since come true, but most of them have not. He hinted 



168 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

very mysteriously, but quite unmistakably, at a pros- 
pective Russian debacle, and predicted a separate peace 
with Russia before the end of 1915 ! " And then," he 
added, " we will shake up the old women at the Western 
front a bit and show them the ' Hindenburg method.' " 

The room we were in was fitted up as an emergency 
staff office. There were several large tables, maps ga- 
lore, a safe, a number of books that looked like ledgers 
and journals, six telephones and a telegraph instru- 
ment. Two non-commissioned officers were writing in a 
corner. In case anything important happens at night, 
such as an urgent despatch that demands immediate 
attention, everything was at hand to enable the General 
to issue new orders. A staff-officer and a clerk are al- 
ways on duty. 

I learned later on, though, that a position in that 
auxiliary staff -office at Hindenburg's residence is more 
or less of a sinecure. All despatches go first to Luden- 
dorff, Hindenburg's Chief of Staff, who, in ninety-nine 
cases out of a hundred, issues orders without consulting 
his Chief. 

In the midst of a long explanation of the Russian 
plight, the voluble subaltern suddenly stopped short. 
I heard a car halt in front of the house, and a minute 
or two later the door of the office opened and Germany's 
giant idol entered. I rose and bowed. The officer and 
the two sergeants clicked their heels audibly, and replied 
to the stentorian " Morgen, meine Herren," with a brisk 
" Morgen, Excellence." 

Hindenburg looked questions at me, but I thought I 
would let my young friend do the talking and act as 
master of ceremonies. He handed Hindenburg my let- 
ter, and introduced me as " Herr ' von ' Beaufort, who 
has just arrived from Rome." (I had left Rome nearly 



HINDENBURG 169 

three months before ! ) The General read his nephew's 
letter and then shook hands with me, assuring me of 
the pleasure it gave him to meet me. Of course, I was 
glad that he was glad, and expressed reciprocity of 
sentiments. I looked at him — well, for lack of a bet- 
ter word, I will say, with affection ; you know the kind 
of child-like, simple admiration which expresses so 
much. I tried to look at him as a certain little girl 
would have done, who wrote : " You are like my gov- 
erness: she, too, knows everything." I felt sure that 
that attitude was a better one than to pretend that I 
was overawed. That sort of homage he must receive 
every day. Besides, as soon as I realised that he knew 
nothing of the telephone message from and to Allen- 
stein, my old self-assurance had returned. 

Now for my impressions of Germany's — and, as 
some people try to make us believe, the world's — great- 
est military genius. They might be summed up in two 
words : " Strength and cruelty." Hindenburg stands 
over six feet high. His whole personality radiates 
strength, brute, animal strength. He was, when I met 
him, sixty-nine years of age, but looked very much 
younger. His hair and moustache were still pepper 
and salt colour. His face and forehead are deeply fur- 
rowed, which adds to his forbidding appearance. His 
nose and chin are prominent, but the most striking fea- 
ture of the man's whole appearance are his eyes. They 
are steel-blue and very small, much too small for his 
head, which, in turn, is much too small compared with 
his large body. But what the eyes lacked in size they 
fully made up for in intensity and penetrating powers. 
Until I met Hindenburg I always thought that the eyes 
of the Mexican rebel Villa were the worst and most cruel 
I had ever seen. They are mild compared with those 



170 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

of Hindenburg. Nevee in all my life have I seen 

SUCH HAED, CEUEL, NAY, SUCH UTTEELY BEUTAL EYES 

AS THOSE OF HiNDENBUEG. The moment I looked at 
him I believed every story of refined (and unrefined) 
cruelty I had ever heard about him. 

He has the disagreeable habit of looking at you as if 
he did not believe a word you said. Frequently in con- 
versation he closes his eyes, but even then it seemed as 
if their steel-like sharpness pierced his eyelids. Instead 
of deep circles, such as, for instance, I have noticed on 
the Kaiser, he has big fat cushions of flesh under his 
eyes, which accentuate their smallness. When he closes 
his eyes, these cushions almost touch his bushy eye- 
brows and give his face a somewhat prehistoric appear- 
ance. His hair, about an inch long I should judge, 
was brushed straight up — what the French call en 
brosse. The general contour of his head seemed that of 
a square, rounded off at the corners. 

Speaking about the stories of crueltj'^, one or two of 
them may bear re-telling. 

When during the heavy fighting, early in 1915, Gen- 
eral Rennenkampf was forced to evacuate Insterburg 
somewhat hastily, he was unable to find transport for 
about fifty thousand loaves of bread. Not feeling in- 
clined to make a present of them to the Germans, he 
ordered paraffin to be poured over them. When the 
Germans found that bread and discovered its condition, 
Hindenburg is reported to have been frantic with rage. 
The next day, after he had calmed down, he said to one 
of his aides : " Well, it seems to be a matter of taste. 
If the Russians like their bread that way, very well. 
Give it to the Russian peisonees." 

You may feel certain that his orders were scrupu- 
lousl}' carried out. 




OS 

o 

s 



HINDENBURG 171 

Another incident which they are very fond of relat- 
ing in Germany is more amusing, though it also plays 
on their idol's cruelty. 

It is a fact that both officers and men are deadly 
afraid of him. It is said that the great General has a 
special predilection for bringing the tip of his riding 
boots into contact with certain parts of the human 
anatomy. A private would far rather face day and 
night the Russian guns than be orderly to Hindenburg. 

But one day a man came up and offered himself for 
the job. 

" And what are you in private life ? " the General 
snorted at him. 

" At your orders, sir, I am a wild animal trainer." 

Hindenburg and I talked for about twenty minutes 
on various subjects — Holland, Italy, America, and, of 
course, the campaign. 

When he tried to point out to me how all-important 
it was for Holland that Germany should crush Eng- 
land's " world-domination," I mentioned the Dutch 
Colonies. That really set him going. " Colonies," he 
shouted. " Pah ! I am sick of all this talk about 
colonies. It would be better for people, and I am not 
referring to our enemies alone, to pay more attention to 
events in Europe. I say ' to the devil ' (zum Teufel) 
with the colonies. Let us first safeguard our own coun- 
try ; the colonies will follow. It is here," and he went 
up to a large map of Poland hanging on the wall, and 
laid a hand almost as large as a medium-sized breakfast 
tray over the centre of it — " It is here," he continued, 
" that European and colonial affairs will be settled and 
nowhere else. As far as the colonies are concerned, it 
will be a matter of a foot for a mile, as long as we hold 
large slices of enemy territory." 



112 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

He spoke with great respect of the Russian soldier, 
but maintained that they lacked proper leaders. " It 
takes more than ten years to reform the morale of an 
officers' corps. From what I have learned, the morale 
of the Russian officer is to this day much the same 
as it was in the Russo-Japanese war. We will show 
you one of their ambulance trains captured near Kir- 
baty. It is the last word in luxury. By all means 
give your wounded all the comfort, all the attention you 
can; but I do not think that car-loads of champagne, 
oysters, caviare and the finest French liqueurs are nec- 
essary adjuncts to an ambulance train. The Russian 
soldier is splendid, but his discipline is not of the same 
quality as that of our men. In our armies discipline is 
the result of spiritual and moral training; in the Rus- 
sian armies discipline stands for dumb obedience. The 
Russian soldier remains at his post because he has been 
ordered to stay there, and he stands as if nailed to the 
spot. What Napoleon I. said still applies to-day : 
' It is not sufficient to kill a Russian, you have to throw 
him over as well.' 

" It is absurd," the General continued, " for the 
enemy Press to compare this campaign with that of 
Napoleon in 1812." Again he got up, and pointing to 
another map, he said : " This is what wiU win the war 
for us." The map showed the close railroad net of 
Eastern Germany and the paucity of permanent roads 
in Russia. Hindenburg is almost a crank on the sub- 
ject of railroads in connection with strategy. In the 
early days of the war he shuffled his army corps about 
from one corner of Poland to the other. It is said that 
he transferred four army corps (160,000 men — about 
600 trains) in two days from Kalish, in Western 
Poland, to Tannenberg, a distance of nearly two hun- 



HINDENBURG 173 

dred miles. On some tracks the trains followed each 
other at intervals of six minutes. 

" Our enemies reckon without two great factors un- 
known in Napoleon's time : railroads and German organ- 
isation. Next to artillery this war means railroads, 
railroads, and then still more railroads. The Russians 
built forts ; we built railroads. They would have spent 
their millions better if they had emulated our policy 
instead of spending millions on forts. For the present 
fortresses are of no value against modern siege guns — 
at least, not until another military' genius such as 
Vauban, Brialmont, Montalembert, Coehoorn, springs 
up, who will be able to invent proper defensive meas- 
ures against heavy howitzers. 

" Another delusion under which our enemies are la- 
bouring is that of Russia's colossal supply of men. He 
who fights with Russia must always expect superiority 
in numbers ; but in this age of science, strategy and 
organisation, numbers are only decisive, ' all else being 
equal.' The Russian forces opposed to us on this front 
have alwaj's been far superior in numbers to ours, but 
we are not afraid of that. A crowd of men fully armed 
and equipped does not make an army in these days." 

This brought him to the subject of the British forces, 
more especially Kitchener's army. " It is a great mis- 
take to underestimate your enemy," said Hindenburg, 
referring to the continual slights and attacks appearing 
in the German Press. " I by no means underrate the 
thoroughness, the fighting qualities of the British sol- 
dier. England is a fighting nation, and has won her 
spurs on many battlefields. But to-day they are up 
against a different problem. Even supposing that 
Kitchener should be able to raise his arm}' of several 
millions, where is he going to get his officers and his 



l'74i BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

non-commissioned officers from? How is he going to 
train them, so to speak, overnight, when it has taken us 
several generations of uninterrupted instruction, study 
and work to create an efficient staff? Let me empha- 
sise, and with all the force I can : ' Efficiency and train- 
ing are everything.' There lies their difficulty. I have 
many officers here with me who have fought opposite 
the English, and all are united in their opinion that 
they are brave and worthy opponents; but one criti- 
cism was also unanimously made : ' Their officers often 
lead their men needlessly to death, either from sheer 
foolhardiness, but more often through inefficiency.' " 

Although he did not express this opinion to me per- 
sonally, I have it on excellent authority that Hinden- 
burg believes this war will last close on four years at 
least. And the result — : stalemate. He does not be- 
lieve that the Allies will be able to push the Germans 
out of Belgium, France or Poland. 

Personally, I found it impossible to get him to make 
any definite statement on the probable outcome and 
duration of the war. " Until we have gained an hon- 
ourable peace," was his cryptic reply. He refused to 
state what, in his opinion, constituted an honourable 
peace. If I am to believe several of his officers — and 
I discussed the subject almost every day — then Hin- 
denburg must by now be a very disappointed man. I 
was told that he calculated as a practical certainty on 
a separate peace with Russia soon after the fall of 
Warsaw. (I should like to point out here that this 
" separate peace with Russia " idea was one of the 
most popular and universal topics of conversation in 
Germany last year.) 

When Hindenburg learnt that I had come all the 



HINDENBURG 175 

way from Berlin without a pass from the General Staff, 
he appeared very much amused ; but in a quasi-serious 
manner he said: 

" Well, you know that I ought to send you back at 
once, otherwise I shall risk getting the sack mjself ; 
still, as all ordinary train-service between here and 
Posen will be suspended for four days, the only way 
for you to get back is by motor-car. It would be a 
pity to come all the way from sunny Italy to this Si- 
berian cold, and not see something of the men and of 
the hardships of a Russian winter campaign. Travel- 
ling by motor-car, you will have ample opportunity to 
see something of the country, and, if you feel so in- 
clined, of the fighting as well. And then go home and 
tell them abroad about the insurmountable obstacles, 
the enormous difficulties the German army has to over- 
come." 

Hindenburg does not like the Berlin General Staff 
officer, and that is why he was so amused at mj' having 
got the better of them. He describes them as " draw- 
ing-room " officers, who remain safely in Berlin. With 
their spick and span uniforms they look askance at 
their mud-stained colleagues at the front. His officers, 
who know Hindenburg's feelings towards these gentle- 
men, play many a practical joke on their Berlin con^ 
freres. The latter have frequently returned from a 
visit to some communication trenches only to find that 
their car has mysteriously retreated some two or three 
miles . . . over Polish roads. 

Any one who can tell of such an experience befalling 
a " Salon Offizier " is sure to raise a good laugh from 
Hindenburg. 

At the conclusion of our conversation he instructed 
the young A.D.C. to take me over to Headquarters 



176 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

and present me to Captain Cammerer. " Tell him," 
and I inscribed the words that followed deeply on my 
mind, " to be kind to Herr Beaufort." 

My introduction to Cammerer proved to be one of 
those curious vagaries of fate. He was the very man 
who less than twenty-four hours ago had spoken with 
General von SchliefFen, and who had assured him how 
impossible it was for me to continue, and that I was 
to be sent back to Berlin at once ! 

" Beaufort, Beaufort," he sniffed once or twice before 
he could place me. Then suddenly he remembered. 
*' Ah, yes, him ! You are the man General von Schlief- 
fen telephoned about yesterday? But did he not in- 
struct you to return to Berlin ? " 

However, I remembered Hindenburg's injunction: 
" Tell Cammerer to be kind to him," so what did I care 
for a mere captain.'' 

Consequently, as they say in the moving pictures, I 
" registered " my most angelic smile, and sweetly said : 

" Ah, yes, captain, quite so, quite so. But, you see, 
I felt certain that there was some misunderstanding at 
this end of the wire. Probably it was not clearly ex- 
plained to you that I had this very important letter of 
introduction to General von Hindenburg from my friend 
his nephew. As you see," and I waved my hand at the 
A.D.C., my master of ceremonies, " I was quite right in 
my surmise." 

However that may be, you may be certain that I saw 
to it that when we mapped out my return journey, 
Cammerer was being " kind " to me. Consequently, I 
spent two most interesting weeks in the German Eastern 
war-zones, much to the surprise and disgust of the 
" Drawing-room Staff " in Berlin. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

liOTZEN 

IT was about two in the afternoon when I returned to 
the " Kaiserhof," and, needless to say, I was in a 
most reckless mood. The world in general, and the 
Eastern front in particular, seemed once more at my 
feet. I felt happy and contented. 

At the hotel several staff officers came up and " most 
obediently " presented themselves. We discussed the 
war and everything pertaining to it over some atrocious 
brandy, misnamed French cognac. Right here I should 
like to record my impression that one of Germany's 
greatest disappointments, next to her failure to reach 
Paris, was Russia's stubborn resistance. There at 
Lotzen, amongst men surely as well informed as any 
with regard to conditions in Russia, there were very 
few who expected her to hold out beyond Christmas 
(1915). Not only did they expect an absolute mili- 
tary debacle, but they claimed that her political con- 
dition was such that the people before long would rise 
en masse against the military regime. Much was ex- 
pected from the many German ramifications in Russia, 
which seem to be more extensive than people in other 
countries realise. Germany calculated, and I am sure 
does so still, on a separate peace with Russia. 

This attitude was rather astonishing to me, because I 
know that the German General Staff is in closer touch 
with affairs in Russia than in any other belligerent 
country. 

Paswell, whom I have mentioned elsewhere, also told 
me that a revolution was imminent. He assured me 

177 



178 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

that the Russians were getting very tired of bearing the 
whole brunt of this war, and of being expected to march 
to Berlin while the Western Allies were simply sitting 
tight. He claimed that Petrograd was of the opinion 
that the Western Allies could have seriously menaced, 
if not entirely prevented, the great German Eastern of- 
fensive. My informant, who, as I have already said, 
was intimately acquainted with the country, declared 
that there had grown up a most warm and loyal feeling 
towards Japan. The semi-official Novoe Fremya re- 
marked editorially that in case of a Japanese war with 
a " certain great Power," she could count on Russia's 
gratitude. Japan is said to have sent one hundred and 
forty large siege guns, with full Japanese personnel, to 
the Russian front. 

In Lotzen, which is in the centre of the Masurian 
Lake district, where heavy fighting took place last year, 
bright yellow posters were displayed at different cor- 
ners, on the station walls, and on almost every house 
outside the little town. They were " Instructions to 
Scavengers." A list was given of the approximate re- 
wards for arms and material found on the battle-fields, 
and in the same breath dire threats of fines and impris- 
onments against all those who did not at once give up 
everything of military value found anywhere on the field 
of operations. 

I subsequently noticed those yellow pasters wherever 
we went during my trip along the Eastern front, in 
Poland as well as in East Prussia. They were usually 
displayed in triplicate — i.e., in German, Polish and 
Russian. 

I have seen them mentioned in the Allied newspapers 
as if these scavenger orders and regulations were of 
recent institution. They were looked upon as a sign 



LOTZEN 179 

that Germany is beginning to feel the pinch. All I can 
say is, that such orders were promulgated the day war 
started. I saw some of them dated August 12th, 1914. 
The rewards offered are very meagre. Usually the 
material is taken to the nearest town hall, where it is 
valued, and the finder receives one per cent, reward. 
It takes an awful lot of scrap iron and steel to repre- 
sent one hundred marks — i.e., one mark ( 24 cents ) 
reward. Of course, the natives soon found that it was 
hardly worth while to pick up things, unless you could 
do it by the cart-load. The result was that in many 
places we passed through, where the fighting had been 
ver}' intense, the ground M'as simply strewn with battle 
remnants of all sorts — cannon, rifles, swords, lances, 
shell-cases, machine-guns, axles, etc., etc. I must plead 
guilty to having been a souvenir hunter in those early 
days, so I collected a splendid number of relics. Alas ! 
subsequent events in Berlin, which necessitated a some- 
what hurried departure, forced me to leave the major 
part of my luggage behind. 

In the afternoon an amusing incident took place in 
the public dining-room of the hotel. " The Kaiserhof " 
at Lotzen is a sort of half-way house for officers who 
are going on or returning from leave. A mud-stained 
young lieutenant of the reserve straight from the 
trenches dropped in at the hotel and ordered a meal. 
When it came there was no bread with it. He ordered 
some and was asked for his bread-ticket. Of course, 
not having slept in the hotel the previous night, he had 
none. Well, no ticket, no bread. He called for the 
head waiter, then for the manager, and raised a fine old 
rumpus. I never saw a man so mad, not even a Ger- 
man. He raised heaven and earth, and swore like a 
regular trooper (German version). His " Himmel- 
kreuzdonnerwetterrrrrrrrrrrs . . ." rolled through the 



180 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

dining-room of the dingy place like a machine-gun on 
corrugated-iron trench roofs. 

" Here we are getting killed for you beastly canaille" 
he shouted at the landlord and his assistant, " and when 
we come from the trenches we can't even get a piece of 
bread, and this all through your damned red tape." 

Now the young lieutenant, when he started the row, 
evidently did not know that the other half of the hotel 
was reserved for tiie officers of Hindenburg's Staff. 
Some of them heard the noise and sent for the landlord. 
When they learned about the young lieutenant, a Staff 
captain entered the dining-room. The reserve lieu- 
tenant swallowed the other half of his oath, jumped into 
position, napkin tucked under his chin, got very red, 
and, to all appearances, felt most uncomfortable. He 
behaved just like a naughty schoolbo}^ caught red- 
handed by his master. And then the Staff captain had 
his say, and the poor lieutenant, or what was left of 
him, continued his breadless meal in silence, paid for his 
bill, and forthwith departed. I think of the lot he had 
my sympathies. 

Numbers of Russian prisoners were working in the 
streets shovelling snow, all their worldly belongings 
slung in a haversack on their backs. Only a few of 
them looked unhappy. The " Nitchewo " (" no-mat- 
ter ") spirit seems to be their greatest and never-failing 
comfort. They worked away, talked and smiled at each 
other, and seemed on excellent terms with their guards. 
What fine fellows they were ! 

During that trip I saw several Russians over six feet 
six in height ; six-footers were common amongst them. 
What excellent fighting material ! But there was noth- 
ing of the tragic, hungry, hunted look in their faces 
which I have noticed again and again on the Western 



LOTZEN 181 

front, in the faces of German prisoners. Those Rus- 
sians, at least the majority of them, appeared con- 
tented and satisfied. 

But, then, the Russian soldier is a philosopher. 

The name " Lotzen " will always be identified in my 
mind with one of the funniest war pictures I have wit- 
nessed during the two years I spent wandering through 
the various belligerent countries. 

There were about twenty officers staying at the little 
hotel. Fifteen of these were allowed to go to bed " im 
ganzen " — i.e., freely translated, " entirely," " alto- 
gether " ; really meaning that they were permitted to 
undress fully. Of course, the majority of them profited 
by this permission and went to bed fairly early. (On 
campaign, as every soldier will tell you, it is a golden 
rule to sleep and eat whenever you have the chance.) 

Having travelled the greater part of the previous 
night, I, of course, made njy excuses early. I was in 
bed by ten. Shortly before midnight I was awakened 
by a commotion in the corridor. There was a tre- 
mendous hullabaloo, running and talking. Fearing 
that the old ramshackle wooden structure was on fire, I 
quickly jumped out of bed, and clad in my pyjamas and 
dressing-gown, proceeded downstairs. I heard voices 
in the mess-room, so thither I went. When I opened 
the door I was almost struck dumb. If I live to be a 
hundred I shall not forget that sight. There were nine 
officers in the room, ranging in age from twenty-five to 
fifty, I should judge, every single one of them dressed 
in the classic German garment of respectability — a 
long night-gown. Some of them still held their burning 
candlesticks ; three of them wore a " Schnurrbartbinde " 
(moustache bandage, put on at night to preserve the 
correct shape) ; two of them wore a common red and 



182 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

brown check flannel dressing-gown. They were all 
crowding round a young Staff officer, who was reading 
aloud a despatch from General Mackensen. The news 
that had roused the Staff in such unmartial gear from 
their beds, was that twenty-two thousand Russians, 
including two Generals, had been taken prisoner some- 
where or other in Poland, about one hundred miles 
away. 

I felt very much out of it in the solitary splendour 
of my pyjamas; much more so than I did when fully 
dressed. They read the despatch to me, of course, but 
I don't think they approved of my appearance. As the 
author of " Elisabeth and her German Garden " would 
say, they cannot understand the idea of putting on a 
coat and trousers on going to bed. 

The picture of those nine night-gowned German 
officers, — some of the nighties had red cross-stitch 
borders and little tasselled neck cords — their big un- 
gainly feet in large felt slippers, their hair all rumpled 
up, the old major with the tassels of his soiled flannel 
dressing-gown dangling and dancing behind him, an eld- 
erly captain wearing a nightcap, the curious effect of 
light and shade caused by the lighted candles, and the 
way they were held — well, it is one of the few really 
bright and humorous spots on this great tragic canvas 
of war. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

EN ROUTE 

THE day following my meeting with Hindenburg, 
a Staff officer, Captain Wagner, called at my 
hotel with a powerful military automobile, with two 
men seated in front. 

Our start was bad. 

I almost infuriated my guide. He was a man at least 
fifteen years my senior, and I insisted, or at least tried 
to insist, on his sitting on my right-hand side. But he 
would not hear of it, and, finally, in exasperation ex- 
claimed : " Aber ich bitte doch, mein Herr, wir kennen 
ja unsere Manieren " (" But I beg of you, sir, we know 
our manners"). Of course, his protests were accom- 
panied by salutes and heel-clicking. " Oh, Lord," I 
thought, " this is really too much. A representative of 
a British newspaper arguing with a German officer 
about precedence." 

Well, far was it from me to make him feel bad, and so, 
amidst the wondering gaze of many bystanders, both 
military and civil, I took my seat, and off we went to- 
wards Goldap. 

The journey itself took us the better part of three 
hours. Again I had occasion to notice what a bleak, 
barren, desolate country East Prussia is. One might 
have imagined oneself somewhere in the prairies of 
Saskatchewan, or any other Western Canadian prov- 
ince in winter-time. Sometimes we drove for miles with- 
out seeing any sign of habitation. The roads were well 
built, and, in most places, though it had been snowing 
off and on for several weeks, in excellent condition. 

183 



184 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Large transports of prisoners were the most notable 
feature of the journey. There must have been thou- 
sands and thousands of them. Frequently the com- 
mander of the prison transport, at sight of our car, and 
on hearing the Staff signal, " Ta-ri-ta-ta," not only 
ordered a halt, but made the prisoners turn about, so 
that their backs were towards the car, while the convoy 
with loaded rifles stood guard behind them. I asked 
my companion the why and the wherefore of this, and 
he explained that they had had trouble now and then 
with certain of the Russian prisoners, who, for some 
reason or other, aroused from their phlegmatism, had 
attacked their guards and officers. I did not like this 
arrangement at all. I heard many stories of whole 
Russian battalions deserting and presenting themselves 
at the German outposts, performing there, like so many 
trained animals, the classic trick of bringing the right 
hand up to their mouth, at the same time chewing a 
very imaginary bit of food. " Yes, sir," so I was told 
many times, " they came in large herds, and all had the 
same dumb story to tell." 

Huh! that reminds me somewhat of incidents at the 
Belgian front. There every German prisoner was a 
" Familienvater, vier Kinder, vier ! " ( " father of a 
family, four children " ) , and the number of children 
frequently increased in the same ratio as the fears and 
uncertainties of the prisoner. But to return to our 
Russian friends. Here is a good story I heard from 
my captain guide. A few weeks before my visit to the 
East, they had caught in the German lines a Russian 
officer in civilian clothes. What do you suppose hap- 
pened to him? Shot as a spy, of course, you say. 
You are quite mistaken. How can you think such an 
inhuman thing of the gentle Huns? Why, that Rus- 
sian officer had only dressed himself in civilian clothes 




a 
Q £ 



N <fc 

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1 1 



OS '^t 



O 

"a! 
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EN ROUTE 185 

because he was hungry and wanted to reach the Ger- 
man lines! Of course, nothing happened to him, ex- 
cept that he was promptly fed ! 

And the captain believed this story himself ! 

On several occasions I stopped the car, got out, and 
took photographs of some of the prisoners. (I had no 
permit to carry a camera, but what matter. A German 
military car and a captain in uniform cover a multitude 
of sins.) I did not pick out any specially striking- 
looking specimens, but simply snapped them as they 
came along. I think that the result bears witness that 
they showed no signs of having been starved. On the 
contrary, the majority of the men I saw seemed in 
splendid condition, and I must add, did not appear to 
be very unhappy either. Most of them smiled pleas- 
antly, and looked like great big faithful St. Bernards, 
with their large, soft brown eyes. There was nothing 
fierce about them. " Nitchewo " (" no matter ") 
seemed stamped on most of their faces. For them the 
war was over. They had done their bit, risked and 
given their all, and what more can man do.^* I should 
have liked to shake their hands one and all, and give 
them a few words of hope and encouragement. Not 
that they needed it, at least, not just then. I spoke 
to several, and I did not come across one that would not 
have answered a thundering " No " if I had asked him : 
" Are we downhearted ? " Their bearing and discipline 
seemed excellent. Any man I addressed immediately 
jumped to attention. 

Goldap — a small East Prussian country town of 
some five or six thousand inhabitants — looked a bit 
upset. There had been considerable fighting in the 
streets and the neighbourhood. The Town Hall was 
destroyed, so was the only hotel, and the whole of one 



186 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

side of the market-place. The odour was not very 
pleasant, I must say, and evidently the process of clean- 
ing had not yet begun. It needed it badly, because one 
could smell the offensive stench of dead bodies for miles 
around. 

However, it is not of that I think when I recall 
Goldap. The captain motored me round the little 
town, and showed me the " terrible devastation the Rus- 
sians had wrought here," a devastation which, by the 
way, compares with the condition of some of the Belgian 
towns I have seen, like an English garden compares with 
a prairie. He took me to divisional headquarters, 
where I was presented to several officers of the Staff, 
and invited to stay to lunch. I was shown several 
rooms in which the Russian General Staff had had their 
offices. A number of papers had been left behind, and 
orders had been given that nothing was to be touched. 

On one of the writing-tables I noticed a postcard with 
the picture of a young girl in a riding habit standing 
next to a Siberian pony. The girl looked about seven- 
teen to eighteen, and was very pretty. Underneath it 
was written : " Au revoir, au revoir very soon, dear 
father." 

It is curious how small things sometimes make such 
a deep impression on one's mind. To me Goldap, that 
first day full of so many different and fresh experiences, 
right in the midst of the enemy, is represented in my 
mind by that little postcard and its tender message: 
" Au revoir, au revoir very soon, dear father." 

I was not given the opportunity to be alone with that 
card, otherwise I would have " collected " it. 

Many thoughts, which I agree should not have been 
in the mind of a purely objective observer in search of 
news and facts, crowded into my heart and brain: 
"Would there be an ' au revoir' on this side? Was 



EN ROUTE 187 

the colonel perhaps amongst the prisoners I had met 
that morning on the road? or was he sleeping in the 
marshes of East Prussia, drowned like a rat in a trap? 
or had a decent bullet found its target in his heart? " 

" Au revoir, au revoir very soon, dear father." 

How many, many thousands have written those lines 
since the beginning of this struggle, and who will never 
touch the beloved hands and lips again ! 

Indeed, " War is Hell." 

I suppose this digression is very un-British. Well, 
if so, it can't be helped. That photograph haunted me 
for days and daj's. 

In the afternoon we drove on to Suwalki across the 
border in Poland. The most prominent feature of the 
landscape was the endless procession of sleighs carry- 
ing the wounded. Very noticeable was the change in 
the condition of the road the moment we crossed the 
frontier. At Filipowo, the 'first Polish village, we had 
to leave our car temporarily, and exchange it for a 
sleigh drawn by two tired-looking ponies, of whom I 
was most suspicious. Before we had gone very far I 
apologised to them. They were simply wonderful, and 
though the road was hardly more than a cow-track, and 
in spite of several upsets, we covered the twelve miles in 
considerably less than two hours. To any one who has 
any idea of Polish roads in March, this will constitute 
a record. The church at Suwalki, the pagoda-like 
tower of which we had noticed a long way off, is a 
magnificent structure. It has somewhat the appear- 
ance of a Mohammedan mosque, with its many minarets 
and mosaic decorations. The inside, too, is exquisite, 
with its Russian paintings and tapestries. I am happy 
to be able to state that this particular church has not 
been damaged at all. 

Just outside the churchyard stood two German field- 



188 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

bakeries, each of them — so I was told — with a ca- 
pacity of twenty thousand loaves a day. Many pairs 
of interested eyes, both German and Russian, were 
keenly watching the operations of the elderly bakers. 

Here I saw a different type of prisoner. They had 
been placed inside the church and churchyard. They 
stood, knelt, or squatted in little groups around anaemic- 
looking fires. Some of them were trying to cook a meal 
of sorts over the listless flames. What I did not like 
about these prisoners was the hunted expression in 
their eyes. There was something uncanny about it. 
Was it fear or merely uncertainty of the future? Did 
they wonder what was going to happen to them? Had 
they perhaps seen, or even experienced, some Hunnish 
treatment? Perhaps they knew of some comrade, who, 
too injured to walk, had been knifed by his captors, 
There was something wrong here. These were not the 
same type of men I had seen further back on the road 
to Lotzen and Goldap. 

My guide had a brother somewhere in the neighbour- 
hood, and, after many inquiries, he learned his where- 
abouts, evidently a spot that could only be reached on 
foot. He asked whether I would mind being left alone 
for half an hour, which, of course, I did not in the 
least. My chaperon evidently thought that I was 
going to remain in the sleigh, watching and waiting 
and twiddling my thumbs! He knew better when he 
got back. I saw plenty of men and things that would 
keep me interested and occupied, and I think I made 
the best of that half an hour and more. 

The large churchyard seemed like a huge gipsy camp. 
Unaccompanied, I wandered amongst the Russians, and 
though they must naturally have taken me for one of 
the enemy, I met with nothing but respect and felt per- 
fectly safe. But how I should have liked to cheer them 



EN ROUTE 189 

up ; to explain to them that I came from " la has," 
across the Channel. But even journalists are some- 
times discreet. 

How tired and worn many of them looked, some of 
them seemed almost dumb. In the church, rows and 
rows of them were sitting against the walls or the pillars 
or in the pews, their great-coats wrapped round their 
shoulders and, where possible, their knees drawn up to 
their chins. Most of the church windows were of 
stained glass, and every now and then, when the sun 
succeeded in piercing the grey leaden sky, it threw a 
few dancing rays over that strange assembly, illuminat- 
ing those tired and weary figures and faces with a gold 
and yellowish light. The effect was phantasmagorical. 

In one corner of the church stood a number of offi- 
cers. I glanced round to make sure that there were no 
Germans in sight, and then walked up to them and 
introduced myself in French. While, of course, it was 
impossible to disclose my real identity, I certainly made 
mention of the fact that I was a neutral journalist. 
They shook hands very solemnly, bowed stiff!}', but 
seemed — quite naturally — little inclined to cultivate 
my acquaintance. Only one young man, a lieutenant 
of one of the Caucasian regiments, as shown by his 
high fur cap, very young and evidently very inexperi- 
enced, was different. He asked me aeveral questions, 
and, as my answers seemed to satisfy him, he took a 
letter from his pocket (curious how it could have been 
overlooked by the Germans when he was searched), and 
pointed to a certain paragraph. It was written in 
French. I read : " I do so much want to be near you. 
Can you not ask K to give me a post in the ambu- 
lance train? I am willing to do anything. This is 
terrible. I miss you so. I must be near you." The 
letter was from his wife. He told me that they had 



190 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

been married about a month before the outbreak of 
war, and that he had been sent to the front almost 
immediately. I soon saw what he was driving at, but 
I noticed that he still hesitated to ask me outright. 
So I met him more than half way, and asked him 
whether he would not like to write a few words saying 
that he was safe, etc., promising him that I should do 
my best to get it safely out of Germany. I know it 
was a somewhat impulsive and more or less foolish 
thing to do, but then we all have our various shortcom- 
ings, and impulsiveness is frequently one of mine. 
Thanks to German organisation, I was supplied with 
a little pocket-book carrying note-paper, envelopes, 
pencil, etc. I pressed the lot upon him, though he 
protested that he would only need one sheet. But I 
think I know a little about those letters to a loved one, 
that frequently begin with : " Just a few lines," and 
run into a dozen sheets. The present case was no 
exception. When I returned after about twenty min- 
utes he handed me an envelope that literally bulged to 
bursting point. He also entrusted me with his diary, 
a small note-book, and begged me to peruse it and make 
use of any parts that I might deem of interest. On 
the first page of the diary a small photograph was 
pasted; evidently it had been cut out from a large 
portrait. It showed the gentle, sweet face of a young 
woman. She was French, as he confided to me. 

The few pages of the diary I read were full of long- 
ing, love and tenderness. It seemed as if that boy's 
heart and soul had slipped through his fingers into those 
pages. Longing, heart-hunger, love, deeds of bravery, 
patriotism, every fine human instinct seemed repro- 
duced in those closely-written lines. I could not read 
more than a few pages; I felt that it would have been 
sacrilege to continue. I am thankful to say that both 




Patrol of tooods of A ugnstotro 




A J Jf Pi Lu^lk- 



M M 



Advancing near Augustowo 



EN ROUTE 191 

letter and diary were safely smuggled out of Germany. 
I sent them by registered post to Kieff, and I have since 
had the great satisfaction of hearing that they reached 
their destination safely. 

The trip to Augustowo, where we were to spend the 
night, was also full of interest. I think we must have 
met at least a thousand Russians, but all of them in 
small groups of from five to twenty, and entirely un- 
escorted by guards. The majority of them were un- 
armed, but not a few had retained their rifles, slung 
across their backs. We stopped several of those men, 
and invariably they replied to my companion's inter- 
rogations that they were on their way to " Prussaki, 
Kamerad." At night, at Augustowo, the phenomenon 
of those unescorted prisoners was explained to mc. 
During the fighting in the woods near Augustowo, 
stretching from that town to Sopockinie in the east 
and Dombrowo in the south, an area of some two hun- 
dred square miles, several Russian regiments had got 
separated from the main column. For many days thou- 
sands of men were lost in those woods. They tried to 
escape, of course, but it appeared that, in whatever 
direction they went, they ran into German troops. In 
this case it really was hunger that finally forced them 
to go and surrender. I met a certain Lieutenant Dilg, 
who with eighty of his men had been a prisoner of the 
Russians for five days. He said he had no complaints 
to make about the treatment he received; that his cap- 
tors had shared whatever they had in the way of food ; 
but, alas ! that was very little. When they finally saw 
that it was no use remaining in those woods, the}^ sim- 
ply changed places, from captors became prisoners, 
and, side by side, marched to the first German post. 

On the road we continually overtook munition trans- 
ports ; many of them seemed to be in difficulties. There 



192 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

was hardly a quarter-mile stretch on which we did not 
see wagons and carts axle-deep in the mud or the ditch. 
It appeared that it was impossible to find enough sleighs 
for all their requirements, so a certain number of carts 
had to be used. Needless to say, their usefulness on 
Polish roads was extremely problematical. 

The peculiar horn signal: " Ta-ri-ta-ta " (three 
distinct notes), which in Berlin is only used for auto- 
mobiles of the Imperial Household, but in the war zones 
has now become a prerogative of the General Staffs, 
blown by the man on the box, always secured us a quick 
and unobstructed passage. More than once, I regret 
to say, we ourselves were the cause of getting horses 
and carts into the ditch. 

Just before reaching Augustowo I saw a tall Russian 
lying in the snow. His rifle was clasped in his arms, 
and from his easy, natural attitude we thought that he 
was sleeping. So he was, but it was the long, long sleep 
from which we only wake up after we have reached the 
land of mystery, the Great Unknown, 



CHAPTER XXV 

IMPRESSIONS IN THE POLISH FIGHTING ZONES 

1 CANNOT take j^ou over the ground mile after mile, 
and place after place. Every hour, sometimes 
every minute, of that trip seemed to be a kaleidoscope 
of strange, weird, horrible and yet fascinating impres- 
sions. It would take a book to describe those fifteen 
daj'S alone. 

Therefore I must content myself Avith trying to re- 
cord here some of the incidents which to my thinking 
stood out in sharpest relief: 

At the Divisional Headquarters at Augustowo I was 
turned over to the tender care of a Captain von Schlegel, 
who, later on, at dinner, formally introduced me to the 
General. I am somewhat uncertain about the latter's 
name. I met so many different officers and heard so 
many names during my trip, that it was well-nigh im- 
possible, except in cases of special interest, to remember 
which was which. I believe it was General von Scholtz. 
The conversation at dinner was varied enough. The 
topics included the cure of lice on horses, chess, and, 
of course, the usual shop. One Captain of Uhlans 
swore that paraffin was the only proper remedy, while 
one of his colleagues maintained that it destroyed the 
hair and skin of the horse. 

He had a better prescription. One of his sergeants 
collected all the cigar and cigarette ends he could get, 
and soaked them in warm water. This concoction did 
the trick just as well — it killed the lice and did not 
harm the hair or skin. 

193 



194 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Several of the officers present had been at the West- 
ern front, and I carefully led the subject on to the 
" contemptible little army." I must tell you that I 
never yet met a German officer who admits that that 
expression was ever used by the Emperor. On the con- 
trary, they all positively deny it. They maintained 
that he used the word " Armeechen," which, translated 
literally, means " little army." They said that the 
Kaiser, just as every German Staff Officer, knew too 
much about the British physique. That England was 
sometimes looked upon as a large aggregation of rifle 
clubs, and, anyhow, of sportsmen. But whenever they 
say something nice about the British, there is always a 
" but " ; no one believed in Kitchener's army of millions. 
What Hindenburg said about the difficulties of training 
sufficient officers and N.C.O.'s for such an army was 
repeated whenever the subject was broached. 

The German Staff Officer thinks that Germany has a 
monopoly of military organisation. They are quite 
convinced that because it has taken them something 
like eighty years to organise their army, other countries 
will need just as long, probably longer. 

I wonder what they are thinking a,bout " Kitchener's 
Army" now? They granted that the British were 
excellent fighters. I never met a German officer who 
spoke otherwise. 

rt was admitted that, taken all in all, the Russians 
conducted their warfare decently; that after the first 
month of hostilities very few excesses had been reported. 
There is little hatred at the Eastern front, but in its 
stead one meets everywhere that cocksure feeling of 
absolute superiority. (Is this perhaps an explanation 
of their bitterness against the British.'') 



IN POLISH FIGHTING ZONES 195 

German officers have a way of talking down to you as 
soon as you touch on military matters, especially if 
you happen to come from a non-conscription country. 
So at every meal I was treated to many dissertations, 
in which the physical and moral qualities and advan- 
tages of the various nations were compared. The usual 
eulogies were spread thick over the German training, 
which was supposed to be on " spiritual " and " moral " 
lines ! 

But I must admit they were a courteous lot. I think 
the General could easily have been persuaded to stage a 
little battle for my benefit on the next day. Anyhow, 
I was invited to ride forward into the lines, which invi- 
tation I accepted with alacrity. That visit nearly had 
fatal results. 

For several weeks there had been intermittent fighting 
in and round the woods of Augustowo, northwest of 
Grodno. On the morning when I was to be given a 
nearer view of the fighting lines, there were rumours 
abroad that promised a fair harvest of excitement. On 
passing through Sopockinie, a small town some twenty 
miles northwest of Grodno, we received the message 
that a cavalry engagement was in progress in the neigh- 
bourhood of the village of Racicze, about six miles 
further south. My guide, a Staff Captain, anxious to 
give me an opportunity of seeing German cavalry at 
work, ordered the chauffeur to open the throttle and get 
us to Racicze as fast as he could. 

We did not have to wait long for the German cavalry. 
As we turned a corner we were suddenly faced, less 
than five hundred feet away, and on a narrow road, by 
half a hundred riderless horses, galloping madly to- 
wards us. 



196 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Our chauffeur, with commendable presence of mind 
for a German, swerved the car, and, trying to emulate 
the British " Schutzengrabenvernichtigungsautomo- 
bile," better known as " Tanks," essayed to negotiate 
a shallow ditch. But it was no go. Fortunately we 
had slowed down at the corner, and that saved us. The 
car simply turned over on its right side, and remained 
in that position, but luckily off the road. The captain 
and I were thrown out, but with the exception of a 
thorough snow-mud bath, and a good shaking, we were 
none the worse for it. Not even the chauffeur received 
a scratch. 

Simultaneously with our salto mortale the frightened 
horses thundered past, missing the wheels of the car 
only by inches. Several of them had big gaping wounds 
from which the blood was streaming freely, leaving a 
large red trail in their wake. From several the saddles 
had slipped down, and were hanging underneath their 
bellies, the swinging stirrups hitting them in different 
places, and driving them still more frantic. 

We were close to the village of Wolowiczowce, where 
we found food, rest, shelter and opportunity to dry our 
clothes. 

Later in the day I heard that the cavalry engagement 
had been a somewhat one-sided affair. A German 
squadron engaged a small detachment of Russian in- 
fantry situated about a quarter of a mile in front of 
a wood. The Germans charged and ran bang into three 
hidden Russian machine guns. Their losses were con- 
siderable. 

What a pity I missed that fight! 

The captain commandeered another car, in which we 
returned to Sopockinie, where Brigade Headquarters 
were established. 

At Kirbaty I was taken to the station, where I had 



IN POLISH FIGHTING ZONES 197 

an opportunity of inspecting a Russian ambulance train 
captured a day or two before. It was painted white, 
with, of course, the conventional Red Cross in different 
places. It belonged, so various inscriptions told me, to 
the " Mission Fran9aise." Most of th« nurses were 
French, and they looked it — slim and neat, well 
dressed, and the majority of them most attractive. Of 
course, they hardly took any notice of my companion 
and myself. Only now and then one would throw a 
glance at us that spoke volumes. I must say I did not 
enjoy it, and would have liked a label on me: " Not 
German." That train was the most luxurious war 
implement I have seen anywhere, too splendid for any- 
thing. But for the odour of carbolic, ether, iodine 
and similai* medical smells, one might have imagined 
oneself in a private American car. Several wounded 
Russian officers lay in their cots, most of them smoking. 
I had a few words with one of the Russian doctors — 
a young man. He seemed entirely at a loss to under- 
stand what had happened. " Where are our armies ? " 
he asked me in French. "What has happened.'^ Ah, 
mon Dieu, when is all this going to end? " 

It seems that this ambulance train was ten minutes 
late in starting. Everything had been in readiness to 
return to Grodno, when at the last second a German 
cavalry patrol suddenly appeared, shot the engine 
driver, and " captured " the train. 

Several of the nurses walked up and down the plat- 
form, quite unconcerned, and never pajdng the slightest 
attention to the large number of stupidly staring Ger- 
mans. Dressed in thick fur coats that reached almost 
to the ankles, they strolled about and conversed in 
French. I think just then I was getting a little bit 
sick of my adventures with the Germans. It was all 
very well as long as I did not see or hear anything but 



198 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

German and Germans ; but the moment I heard French 
once more, the moment when one meets, or at least 
sees, other nationalities — well, I do not know exactly 
how to define my feelings ; it seemed that associating 
with the Huns put one beyond the pale, and made one 
feel that one was on the outside, looking in. I did want 
to talk to those pretty French nurses, not only to hear 
their experiences, but in the spirit of meeting somebody 
from home in a far, far country. But it could not be 
done, or at least I did not try it. I had no intention of 
risking being ignominiously snubbed, and of being 
looked upon as a German secret agent. 

In the operating car several doctors were engaged in 
amputating the leg of a giant Russian. With a heavy 
heart I turned my back on the station and walked into 
the town. 

It already bore signs of German enterprise, not only 
because of the many German uniforms, but also owing 
to the different announcements over the shops. Several 
Berlin stores must have travelling shops with every 
army, because hardly has a new town been captured, 
than the inevitable " Deutsches Kaufhaus " (" German 
shop") is opened. The military authorities regulate 
prices. Last year butter had to be sold for 1.90 mark 
— that is, just under fifty cents the pound; sugar at 
35 pfennig a pound ( about 8 cents ) ; matches about 2 
cents a box, etc. 

Everything possible is done to ward off epidemics. 
In every town near the front one finds steam disinfect- 
ing stations. While the men are having a hot bath 
their clothes are placed in a large boiler and sterilised. 

German dentists, too, are everywhere, and I have 
seen many an operation performed by the light of a 
kerosene lamp held up by the dentist's orderly. 



IN POLISH FIGHTING ZONES 199 

The presents that are sent from Germany to the 
front are methodically distributed. Everybody who 
receives any article of clothing, whether it be a pair of 
socks, or a great-coat, must return in exchange a simi- 
lar garment. It does not matter in how bad a con- 
dition it is, nor whether it is soiled or clean. This pre- 
vents waste. Formerly the men simply threw away 
their soiled linen or other clothing, and asked for new 
things. That has been stopped now. The old things 
are returned to Germany, thoroughly cleaned, and then 
repaired by voluntary workers. 

German Staff Officers tried to convince me — but did 
not succeed — that every, man at the Eastern front 
received half a pound of meat and half a pound of 
bread per diem. I have never been able to find either a 
private or a non-coram. to confirm this. Usually they 
smiled and looked wise. Some of them went as far as 
to say that that is what they were " supposed " to get 
if the commissariat department was in perfect working 
order, which, however, in view of the almost insurmount- 
able difficulties, the long lines of communication, the 
condition of the Polish roads, etc., etc., was rarely the 
case. 

A most amusing incident interrupted our drive 
through Johannisburg on the Prussian Polish border. 
In front of a house stood a Landsturm man, a private 
of, I suppose, about forty-five years of age, and a young 
beardless lieutenant. The two seemed to be in hot 
argument, and suddenly the Landsturm man shook his 
fist in the officer's face. 

My companion the captain stopped the car, called 
the private over to him and bawled : " My God, man, 
have you lost your senses — threatening a superior 
officer? Do you know that you can be shot for that? " 



200 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

And the Landsturm man, not without jumping to atten- 
tion, replied: 

" At your orders, sir. He may be my superior offi- 
cer, but he is also my son ! " " Flabbergasted " is the 
only term that describes my escort's expression. 

The car continued, and he was silent for quite some 
time. 

Near Klonowice, a little bit of a village about fifteen 
miles north of Kutno, I visited a Russian convent. 
The sisters had remained and acted the Good Samari- 
tans. Every available space was taken up by cots 
and stretchers, and still the ambulance sleighs drove 
up with their loads and filled the courtyard. 

It was here that I witnessed what to me will always 
remain the most ghastly sight of the war. If I had 
not known and understood it before, it would have 
revealed to me the German character in all its naked 
hideousness. 

Standing in front of the little convent chapel I over- 
looked the surrounding country. At the foot of the 
hill a procession of stretcher-bearers slowly wound its 
way towards an emergency hospital. All of a sudden I 
heard the whining of a shell, and then saw it explode 
some five or six hundred feet away. As a second shell 
whistled overhead, the line of stretcher-bearers stopped. 
As if on commando, or struck by lightning, every one 
of those forty-two cowards dropped their sad loads 
like so many logs, and threw themselves flat on the 
ground. Some of the stretchers landed squarely, but 
the majority of the twenty-one — I can assure you I 
counted them — turned over and threw their occupants 
in the mud and snow. Though I was several hundred 
feet distant I could hear their shrieks and moans. It 
was ghastly, frightful. Though I had been trained in 




German Soliders on the Russian F 



RONT 



IN POLISH FIGHTING ZONES 201 

a pretty hard school — Belgium — this left me dumb- 
founded. I have never been so horrified in all my life. 
When the shell had exploded (which, by the way, never 
got within five hundred feet of any of them), the cow- 
ards scrambled to their feet, and one by one replaced 
their moaning comrades on the stretchers. 

And although several doctors and officers had wit- 
nessed the incident, there was not one amongst them 
that went and cursed those dastardly brutes. 

I think I knew then what men mean by " seeing red." 
I believe that I could have easily, with my bare fingers, 
choked the life out of those damnable cowards. It was 
the most frightful exhibition I had ever witnessed, and 
whenever people ask me nowadays what to my mind 
was the most horrible war scene I have been present at, 
I never hesitate to relate the above incident. 

I turned my back on these horrors and entered the 
little chapel. Two nuns knelt in front of the altar, and 
in sweet, falsetto voices were saying their prayers. It 
was an oasis of peace amidst these vivid scenes of horror 
and frightfulness. 

It struck me one day that I had seen very few wounded 
amongst them. Oh! I do not mean slightly wounded, 
in the head, arm, leg, or hand — what are called " walk- 
ing cases." I saw thousands of those — I mean seri- 
ously wounded. I was puzzled about this, when one 
day, at Mlawa, I discovered, quite by accident, the par- 
tial explanation. I was talking to a sergeant who had 
just come in with a batch of Russian prisoners. He 
expressed his disgust at those sort of jobs. He had 
had to march for several days across country, sleeping 
anywhere and feeding ditto. He preferred to be in the 
first-line trenches. I shall now give his words, and I 



202 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

am recording them almost verbatim, as I wrote them 
down shortly afterwards: 

" Then we had several serious cases that were beyond 
hope, so we had to do away with them. It is not very 
pleasant work. You cannot shoot them because that 
would be too noisy, and would attract the attention 
of the others." When I asked him how they did it, he 
replied: " Oh, we just take a long knife and cut their 
throats. In many of these parts we are thirty miles 
from a railroad. Our ambulance sleighs and carts are 
taxed to the utmost for the transport of our own 
wounded, which, of course, come first. So what is one 
to do ? Those that cannot walk — well, we think it is 
better for them to be put out of their misery than to 
be left dying at the roadside." 

Here was another pretty story. I turned away. I 
had to. I felt that some day I should commit man- 
slaughter if I stayed much longer in these parts. 

A few miles from Crajewo, a small Polish town, we 
stopped at a httle chateau. My companion, a German 
lieutenant, and I strolled up to have a look at the place. 
The front door was wide open. A piece of paper, 
pinned on the door of the drawing-room, had written 
on it: " Bitte beerdigen. Dr. . . ." ("Please bury 
them"). Inside we found eight Russians. Seven of 
them were dead, but the eighth still showed signs of 
life. What to do-f* We were twelve miles from Cra- 
jewo. Our sleigh only had four places, and all of them 
were occupied, and I knew that it would be useless to 
ask that the extra driver, whom we did not need at all, 
should be left behind. 

The wretched man was shot through the neck. It 
must have missed his windpipe by a fraction of an inch. 
The best we could do for the present was to take a large 



IN POLISH FIGHTING ZONES 203 

sheet, fasten it to the balcony flagpole, and hang it 
out of the first-floor window. I insisted that we should 
return to Crajewo. A medical officer there promised 
me " Auf Ehrenwort " to send out and fetch the man. 
Did he keep his word.'' Well . . . ? 

At Prasnysz, where I spent the night, a new draft 
had arrived a day or two before. It was to go into the 
trenches the next evening at sunset. I was invited to 
dinner at the mess that night. General von Fran9ois, 
commanding the 8th Army Corps, who had come over 
specially for the occasion to welcome the young officers, 
and at the same time give them their send-off^, made 
one of the most remarkable speeches, even for Germany, 
that I have ever listened to. 

He said: 

"Meine Herren " ("Gentlemen"), "you have ar- 
rived at the last station of civilisation. To-morrow 
you will proceed towards the battlefields of Poland, and 
there a new set of ethics will begin for you. I am not 
going to ask the Lord to Bless you. He veils His face 
behind His wide sleeve, and marvels at the petty, un- 
worthy quarrels of us human pigmies in the big scheme 
of things. Daily and nightly thousands and thousands, 
both friends and foe, are asking Him to send them vic- 
tory. To whom shall He grant it.? Every one thinks 
his cause is a just one. What I wish you all to-night 
is iron and steel in your veins and marrow. May you 
all return safely to your wives, children, sweethearts; 
to all those who are dear to you. Should this not be, 
then remember that you will have died the most enviable 
death of all — the death for the Fatherland. Your 
Kaiser and King is with you, leads you [sic], and when 
the hard-fought victory, and an honourable peace have 
been won, then you will gather round him, inspired, 
moved, proud, and kiss his dear, brave hands. The 



204 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Fatherland depends on you. * Hoch der Kaiser ! ' " 
Thundering applause followed his speech ; then they 
sang a song of many verses, each of them with the 
refrain : 

" Kein schonrer Tod ist in der Welt, 
Als wer vorm Feind erschlagen." 

("No more beautiful death exists in all the world, 
Than his who is killed before the enemy.") 

What is one to do with such a nation? 

Curious, this difference in the songs of the nations. 
The British go into battle singing a music-hall ditty; 
the Germans have a repertoire consisting almost exclu- 
sively of sentimental, home- and love-sick ballads. 

A Colonel of the Prussian Guards, von Arnim, showed 
me his sword, presented to him by a number of civU 
and military admirers. It seemed a magnificent piece 
of work. What interested me most, though, was the 
inscription on the blade. Translated, it read: 

" Do not bare me without good reason. But when 
once you have drawn me from my scabbard, do not 
replace me till I have tasted blood." 

The strictest precautions against fire are taken in all 
occupied territory. The Polish peple have the careless 
habit when going to bed of leaving all sorts of things 
to dry on the top of their stoves. Of course, this fre- 
quently causes fire accidents. The Germans soon tried 
to remedy this. (No burning houses, except those 
ignited by themselves, are tolerated in enemy territory.) 
So it was at once " Verboten " to have anything at 
all on top of a stove, except such paraphernalia as was 
necessary for the preparation of food, cooking and 
washing. Amongst many offences which are called 



IN POLISH FIGHTING ZONES 205 

" gross neglect " is leaving matches in waistcoat pockets 
on going to bed. Frequent inspections — at all hours 
of the day and night — are made, and woe to the house- 
owner if contraventions of these orders are found. 

At Allenstein large posters announced the appear- 
ance at the local cinema theatre of a film, " The Hound 
of the Baskervilles," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story. 
Evidently the tabooing of everything English does not 
include moving pictures. 

I spent half a day at Thorn, one of Germany's 
strongest Eastern fortresses — " The Queen of the 
Vistula," as it is proudly described. It is surrounded 
by thirteen forts, built in 1878, but modernised during 
the last decade. While there I had the good luck to 
see one of the famous 42 cm. howitzers. It was en 
route for the Eastern front, to pound at the fortresses 
of the Polish Quadrilateral. This gun has various 
nicknames ; the most popular are " Fat Bertha," " Busy 
Bertha " and " Brummer " i^i.e., something that will 
make things "hum"). 

Let me give here a few statistics of this howitzer. 
The gun is fired electrically, and on account of the 
fearful concussion, which no ear can stand, from a 
distance of about 500-600 feet. The maximum dis- 
tance it is supposed to be able to throw its projectile is 
4*4 km., about 27l/v> miles. They can use projectiles of 
different weight. The heaviest weigh over 1^ tons, 
and require a powder charge of 1,000 lbs. The cost 
of each shot is supposed to be 48,000 marks ($12,000). 
The very prevalent idea that these guns are only able 
to fire a limited number of rounds, say, 150, is, accord- 
ing to my informants, totally wrong. They claim at 
least five times that figure. 

This big gun is often confused with the 30.5 cm. 



206 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

(12-inch) Austrian howitzer, built at the Skoda works. 
The 42 is exclusively a Krupp invention, and entirely 
Krupp built. Krupp's manager in Berlin, Herr Crass, 
told me that they had been experimenting with this gun 
for the last ten years. Only the oldest and most trusted 
Krupp workmen were employed in the building, and no 
foreigner, no matter what his station, has ever been 
inside that part of the works. As far as I am able 
to judge, I should think that eight is about the maxi- 
mum number of 42 cm. guns in existence. 

It was whispered that if by chance the Allies should 
eventually succeed in getting near the Rhine, they 
would meet with some further big gun surprises. Some 
of the Rhine forts are supposed to be armed with 19- 
inch guns. I give this information for what it is worth. 
I have been unable to verify it. 

At Thorn I also saw some interesting new quick- 
firers. Though using an inch and a half calibre bullet, 
they were able to fire 30 rounds a minute, with a maxi- 
mum range of 8,000 feet. 

I discussed with many officers the German system of 
mass attacks, and suggested that their losses must have 
been staggering. Of course they denied this, but their 
explanation of why they attack in mass formation bears 
out a certain analysis of the German character. 

" It is a matter of psychology," so they tell you. 
" Moral influence and moral effect go a long way in 
wartime. A man will fight better, with greater aban- 
don, with less thought of and for himself, when he is 
in closest contact with his comrades. He feels their 
moral and physical support, shoulder to shoulder, in 
front and behind, and this makes him a more effective 
fighter than when he is, relatively speaking of course, 
an isolated unit — i.e., with six or eight paces between 
himself and his neighbours. ' Elbow room ' is a disad- 



IN POLISH FIGHTING ZONES 207 

vantage when a strong enemy position has to be 
stormed. Present-day warfare, in which machine-guns 
play such a prominent part, demands greater physical 
and moral courage than was required in former wars. 
First, because people fought more in the open ; second, 
it was always a matter of one man one rifle. Nowadays 
it is frequently a case of one man a hundred rifles, if 
you consider the capacity of the modern machine-gun. 
Then, the one rifle in former wars was more often than 
not badly served; furthermore, it has been conclusively 
proved that eighty per cent, of ordinary rifle fire, com- 
ing from a trench that is being attacked, is erratic, 
nervous and frequently too high. It has been com- 
puted by patient statisticians that in former wars it 
took about twelve thousand bullets for each casualty 
inflicted. If that figure is anywhere near correct the 
present machine-gun should lower it considerably." 

I believe that the Germans think more of their ma- 
chine-guns than they do of their 42 cm. guns. They 
seem to think that in these days an offensive can only 
be carried to a successful conclusion in mass formation. 

A distinguished American, who, however, wishes to 
remain anonymous, wrote,^ referring to the German 
mass attacks : 

" 0/ one thing I am convinced, that hut for. the Eng- 
lish, the Germans would have proved their theory right." 

iSee "Can Germany Win?" (Pearson). 



CHAPTER XXVI 

WHEN I PRAYED WITH THE KAISEE. 

ON our arrval at Lodz one Saturday evening we 
found the place in a great state of excitement. 
What was up? There are usually three likely answers 
to such a question, in the German war zones : " We 
shall attack at dawn " ; " The enemy has broken 
through," or " The Emperor is coming." This time 
it was the Kaiser. He was expected the next morning 
on a short visit to the 9th Army Corps, under Gen- 
eral Mackensen. He would attend Divine Service at 
Kumpina. 

My cicerone, a Staff Captain, soon obtained the 
necessary permits for " the distinguished neutral jour- 
nalist and personal acquaintance of Hindenburg." 
Bright and early the next morning, our car took up a 
" strategic " position near the Warsaw Station. 

I was offered the freedom of the special reception 
platform, but I had some experience of these royal 
welcomes, and was taking no chances this time. At 
one of these affairs, just because I was too inquisitive 
and wanted to have a good look at the Kaiser at close 
quarters, I was kept separated from my car until he 
had had half an hour's start. So, in view of the fact 
that we had to travel about forty-iBve miles to get to 
" Chapel," I stuck to our motor. 

The imperial train arrived punctually to the minute. 
Von Mackensen and his Staff were, of course, there to 
welcome their Chief. Twenty-seven motor-cars — I 
counted them — including my own, were drawn up out- 

208 



WHEN I PRAYED WITH THE KAISER 209 

side the station. Ours was very, very close to the 
exit — in fact, so near that the chauffeur had to back, 
to make room for the Kaiser's bright yellow vehicle. 
Everything went like clockwork. To the sound of 
hurrahs the Kaiser and Mackensen took their seats in 
the automobile. It was the seventh in the line. If that 
fool chauffeur of ours had been a bit more enterprising, 
and less awed by the sight of his Lord and Master, we 
might have got immediately behind the Kaiser's car. 
Think of it ! I^Hiat fun ! An English correspondent 
for two hours next to the Kaiser. But the German 
chauffeur was too slow, and missed his opportunity. 
He lacked the journalistic "touch" — some call it 
" cheek" — and so we had to be satisfied with second 
place — i.e., number nine in the procession. 

The route from the station through the streets until 
it reached the road to Zgierz on the outskirts of the 
town, was lined with bearded Landsturm sentries. The 
civil population was kept indoors, except those among 
them that had special permits. Many anxious faces 
peeped stealthily from behind curtains as we passed. 
German flags were displayed in great profusion. I 
wondered where they all came from. Surely not from 
Lodz. Quite by accident I subsequently found out. 
In such a well-regulated organisation as the German 
Empire, the Kaiser, like any other great actor or per- 
former, has his advance agents. They are somewhat 
on the lines of the advance pressmen of circuses and 
big shows, only in this case, instead of posters and bills, 
they carry wagon-loads of flags. 

I had by now grown accustomed to the landscape 
that greeted us as we reached the open country. As 
usual, it was barren, bleak and white. It was slightly 
rolling in contour. Here and there on the horizon 
black patches of forest vividly contrasted with the large 



210 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

expanse of snow. The villages seemed to consist of 
snow houses, church spires — or what was left of them 
— tall factory chimneys, telegraph poles and modest 
wayside shrines — all were clad in a thick coat of 
frozen snow and ice. And all round us were the inevi- 
table signs of old battlefields, and of an army in retreat. 
Shattered transport wagons, broken guns of all cali- 
bres, field kitchens, ammunition carts, sleighs, broken 
rifles, and leather accoutrements of all sorts, and, alas ! 
the familiar simple wooden crosses by their hundreds 
and their thousands. Here and there one could still 
distinguish the inscriptions, but in most cases the 
weather had obliterated every mark of identity. I had 
seen many similar sights before, in Belgium, in France, 
and, latterly, on the Eastern front; but somehow on 
that still Sunday morning, driving behind and in such 
close proximity to the man who, in the eyes of compe- 
tent judges, is held largely responsible for this blood- 
shed and destruction, it seemed to affect me more 
strongly than ever before. 

I wondered what the man in front was thinking. 
What would I not have given to be able to read his 
thoughts at seeing these sad sights. But though I 
should have liked to have known them, I did not envy 
him his meditations. 

Here and there small groups of Polish peasants, 
dressed in their picturesque multi-coloured garb, passed 
us on their way to church. Whether by accident, 
custom, or design, I cannot say, but the moment our 
cars were sighted the women in their bunchy petticoats 
quickly threw their top skirts over their heads, and 
either passed on, or stood along the roadside, looking 
neither to the right nor to the left, and taking not the 
slightest notice of the long procession. The men, very 



WHEN I PRAYED WITH THE KAISER 211 

much in the minority, were oldish, and were dressed in 
skin coats bordered with brown or blue cloth. Their 
headgear consisted of the tall, fur, peakless caps of the 
country, or else the funny little narrow-brimmed, round 
Lodz hats. 

Near the small town of Glowno we drove through 
extensive woods, all pine trees. The wind howled 
through their slender branc5hes. The interior looked 
black and mysterious, in sharp contrast to the crown 
of snow with which the trees were covered. The sin- 
ister depths of the forest seemed to tell, and yet try to 
hide, the terrible story of death and murder enacted in 
its presence. Small detachments of Russian prisoners, 
superintended by middle-aged German soldiers, were 
bur^'ing the dead, ten of them to a grave. The men 
stood in the snow almost knee-deep. When our cars 
hove in sight the Germans, regardless of their charges, 
ran as fast as the deep snow would permit them, towards 
the road and cheered themselves hoarse till the last 
car had passed. They they returned to their terrible 
labours. That wood was like one of those ghastly, yet 
realistic paintings one occasionally comes across, only 
a million times enlarged. It sometimes haunts me in 
my sleep. 

From Lodz to Lowicz is, roughly speaking, about 
forty-five miles, and this distance was covered in just 
under three hours, which, considering the snowbound 
roads and the deep mud underneath, was pretty good 
going. Lowicz lies on the left bank of the Bsura, and 
was at the time only a few miles behind the actual firing 
line. Near enough to hear distinctly the sound of the 
guns. It was crammed with soldiers of all branches of 
the service. The market-place, which, by the way, is 
already called " Kaiser Wilhelms Platz," was crowded 
with munition wagons, transports of every kind and 



212 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

description, sleighs, motor-cars, ambulance cars and 
several pieces of artillery, which, as I learned later, were 
captured from the Russians the day before on the 
Rawka. At the " Hindenburg Platz," on the outskirts 
of the city, the Commander of the town received the 
Emperor ; but, as far as I could see, his speech was cut 
short by the Kaiser, who was anxious to get on. Slowly 
our long train of cars wound its way through the sen- 
try-lined streets. Of course, there was the usual dis- 
play of German flags. We did not tarry long in 
Lowicz, but continued for another eight miles to di- 
visional headquarters at Kompina, a small village in the 
marshes along the Bsura. From now on the country 
was simply overrun with troops, wherever the eye trav- 
elled one noticed them. There were also a large num- 
ber of trenches and dug-outs in this part of the country. 
Then suddenly a transformation scene was enacted. 
We passed through two high iron gates, and found our- 
selves in a large and magnificent park. Tall poplars, 
or were they elms, bordered the road. At the end of a 
splendid avenue, a mile long, we reached a large open 
space — our destination. The centre was occupied by 
a spick and span automobile altar. It struck a dis- 
cordant note there in God's great outdoor church. It 
was, if anything, too luxurious. The gold and red 
tinsel, the carved woodwork, suggested the word 
" gaudy." It looked incongruous and sadly out of 
place. 

The castle, a massive mediaeval structure, was sur- 
rounded by what had once been lawns with flower-beds 
that might have vied with those of an English estate. 
Now they were little more than pools of muddy snow 
and drab water. 

Hardly a stone's-throw from the altar stood a power- 
ful motor-lorry, surmounted by a long-barrelled anti- 



WHEN I PRAYED WITH THE KAISER 213 

aircraft gun. A bit further on a wireless telegraphy 
apparatus was fixed, and the operator in charge was in 
communication with one of the aviators flying overhead. 
The castle square offered a kaleidoscopic effect. 
Low Polish sleighs, harnessed with three or more Si- 
berian ponies ; ambulance cars and wagons ; long four- 
wheeled peasant carts, an ammunition wagon or two, 
three field-kitchens, a field-bakery (on wheels), numer- 
ous saddle horses and luxurious limousines, were all 
crowded pell-mell in a sea of mud and dirty snow. 

Several regiments, in full field kit, stood drawn up in 
parade formation at different angles to the altar. 

The Kaiser had alighted at the castle for a few mo- 
ments (during which time I sought out an advantageous 
position close to the altar). He soon reappeared, arm- 
in-arm with his son Prince Joachim, and accompanied 
by General Mackensen. Short crisp commandos of 
" Achtung," " Stillgestanden," rang out, and the grey 
mass of officers passed slowly along the lines. 

If appearances count for anything, the War Lord is 
a very tired and worried man. His hair and moustache 
have grown quite grey. His eyes were sunk and hol- 
low, and bore the unmistakable trace of wakeful nights. 
Deep lines were drawn about the corners of his mouth 
and nose. The German field grey does not suit him at 
all. The cloud of grey that surrounded him seemed to 
throw its reflection on his face and made it appear 
ashen. His moustache had no longer that cocky, 
sprightly upward twist we all know so well from the 
illustrated papers. He was more like one of Rae- 
maekers' cartoons than any photograph I have seen of 
him. 

He wore a long coat, and broad leather belt with 



2U BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

revolver holster and sword. In the third buttonhole 
was the black and white ribbon of the Iron Cross, while 
the Order of Merit showed near his collar. As head- 
gear, he wore the ordinary officer's helmet — covered 
with grey material — not the elaborate Prussian 
Guard's affair with the eagle perched on top. I had 
ample opportunity to take in all these details, as for 
nearly half an hour I stood less than thirty feet away 
from him, and frequently came even closer than that. 

The playing of the National Anthem stirred up vivid 
memop-ies. As you know, it is the same melody as that 
of " God save the King." The last time I had heard it 
at a military ceremony was at Fumes, the Belgian 
Headquarters, when King George paid a visit to King 
Albert. But I must frankly admit that the spectacle 
before me greatly appealed to my imagination. One 
could not help it. It gripped one in spite of oneself. 

The " Fahnencompagnie," consisting of twenty stand- 
ard bearers, and, preceded by two regimental bands, 
paraded before the Kaiser in the famous goose step, 
several officers leading. Some of the flags stiU retained 
their new lustre, but most of them were soiled and bat- 
tle-torn. The troops, thousands of grey-clad soldiers, 
old men with young eyes, and young men with old eyes, 
bearded grandfathers lithe and lean, presented arms, 
and as they cheered their very hearts and souls seemed 
to go out towards their Kaiser. That exclamation, 
" Hoch ! " appeared to express the undefinable German 
spirit underlying the words : " With God for King and 
Fatherland." The Kaiser and his whole Staff stood 
rigidly at attention, and saluted when the standards 
passed by. As the troops were all Prussian the bands 
played : " I am a Prussian, knowest thou m}'^ colours." 

It was a most magnificent and splendidly spectacular 
sight. 




A Snapshot of the Kaiser Taken by Prince Oscar 
It was sent to a photoyrapher in a small toxcn to have the film 
developed. The man printed a few copies for his oivn ttse, and sent 
one to an a<jency in Berlin. The Berlin firm sold the photograph, 
hut the moment it appeared the greater part of the magazine in 
irhifh it va.t published iran confiscated 



WHEN I PRAYED WITH THE KAISER 215 

Arrived at the altar, the standard-bearers ranged 
themselves on both sides of it; the Staff took up the 
centre, while the Kaiser stood a little in advance of 
them all, facing the altar and the priest. 

The personality of the Kaiser fascinated me. He 
stood there, straight as a dart, statue-like, silent and 
thoughtful. Every once in a while he joined in the 
singing of the Psalms, but most of the time he was 
staring straight in front of him with a vacuous and 
faraway look in his eyes, showing preoccupation of 
mind. He did not look at all the part of the great 
War Lord. It seemed almost inconceivable that that 
solitary, lonely-looking figure (somehow his surround- 
ings seemed to have vanished from my mind's eye) 
should be the man who is largely responsible for this 
terrible world-tragedy. 

When the clergyman began his sermon the spell, at 
least as far as I was concerned, was suddenly broken. 
I do not remember much of what he said. It was noth- 
ing very brilliant or new, just the usual cant about 
Germany and her enemies. He praised the German 
spirit and the love for Kaiser and Fatherland; the 
splendid deeds they had achieved; but he warned them 
not to forget God, who " holds the fate of Empires in 
the hollow of His hand," — but being a just God, would 
give the German people the power and ability to be 
successful in defending their hearths and homes, and 
who would enable them to hold in pawn the foreign 
territories until Germany could secure an honourable 
peace. 

The blessing of the troops that followed was another 
most inspiring ceremony. The standards were lowered ; 
Kaiser, officers and men bent their knees and received 
bare-headed the priest's blessing. 



216 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Another Psalm, in which the Kaiser eagerly joined, 
and which ended with " Lord, deliver us," concluded the 
religious part of the service. 

Again a few short commands ran along the lines. 
Then once more an expectant hush fell over the large 
assembly — the Emperor was going to speak. 

His voice was grave, and not as firm and powerful as 
one would expect from the All-Highest War Lord. He 
left several sentences unfinished. He thanked his sol- 
diers, officers and generals, and assured them of the 
Fatherland's eternal gratitude. Of course, he spoke 
of their great Ally, " The One above " — " He upon 
whom my father and my grandfather have always relied 
will not desert us, for His Spirit will always live in the 
German army and in the German people." His con- 
cluding sentence was : " The power of our enemies 
must be broken ; they must be brought to their knees " 
(" niedergeworfen werden "). 

General Mackensen then spoke a few words, after 
which the regiments formed fours, and paraded past 
the Emperor. The noise of the " Paradeschritt " 
seemed to compete with the distant rumblings of the 
guns, making the frozen ground shake and tremble. 

Then the troops dispersed to their different encamp- 
ments, billets and dug-outs ; the anti-aircraft guns were 
removed, and two aviators that had been circling over- 
head flew off to their respective bases. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

HINDENBURG LUDE^JDORFF AND FALKENHAYN 

" War means attack. Whoever seeks his salvation behind forti- 
fications and trenches is lacking in conscious strength." — Field- 
Marshal COLMAR vox DER GoLTZ. 

THERE were few officers of Hindenburg's army with 
whom I spoke that would not at some time or 
other during the conversation refer to the above quota- 
tion. I wonder what they are thinking about it now? 

Though the general public hears comparatively little 
about Ludendorif, in military circles Hindenburg is 
never mentioned without him. He is usually referred 
to as Hindenburg's " silent partner." It was Major 
von Bitterfeld who first drew my attention to Luden- 
dorff ,^ with his mysterious hint : " Hindenburg is 
great, but LudendorfF is his Chief of Staff." 

By judicious questioning I learnt a great deal about 
this partnership between Hindenburg and Ludendorff.^ 
It would considerably cool the fanatical enthusiasm of 
the German people for the " Deliverer of East Prussia," 
if they knew the very important part played in the 
Eastern campaign by Ludendorff. 

It is LudendorfF who has studied the Russian organ- 
isation, the Russian army and the Russian manner of 
fighting all his life. He and his immediate subordinate 
on the Staff, Colonel Hoffmann, were attached to the 
Russian armies during the Russo-Japanese war, and, as 

I See Chapter XVIII. 

I I was not surprised to hear that when the great man was re- 
cently promoted he insisted upon taking his Chief of Staff with 
him. 

217 



218 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

he is sometimes quoted to have said, he learnt then how 
to beat the Russians. It was Ludendorff, the great 
expert on railroad transportation, who planned and 
mapped out the Battle of Tannenberg, the attack on 
Warsaw, and the great second Battle of the Masurian 
Lake district in February, 1915. But Ludendorff, a 
tall, reserved, silent German, has always remained in the 
background, and his Chief received all the kudos. The 
German people must have some one to worship, and it 
would never do to show them that, after all, their idol 
has only feet of clay. When Hindenburg was recalled 
from retirement, and asked to take charge of the army 
operating in East Prussia, one of the first things he 
insisted upon was that Ludendorff should be appointed 
as his Chief of Staff. The latter was at the time in 
Belgium earning fame and honour, but, in accordance 
with Hindenburg's wishes, was transferred. In fact, 
I was told, by an informant who knows both, that 
Ludendorff returned from Belgium via Hanover, where 
the old General joined him. Speaking about Luden- 
dorff's activities in Belgium, I was told that he was the 
first General to enter Liege, and, not as a Staff officer, 
but at the head of his brigade. It seemed that the 
brigade commander in question had been killed, and 
Ludendorff at once took his place. For this achieve- 
ment he was decorated by the Kaiser with the Order of 
Merit. 

If you can persuade a German officer of the higher 
command to discuss with you the abortive Paris cam- 
paign, Ludendorff's name will invariably be mentioned. 
It was said that he was violently opposed to von Kluck's 
forced march ; he wanted to take Calais first, and from 
there advance on Paris. The same informant, who 
gave me a great deal of reliable information, and who 
knows Ludendorff personally, said that if von Kluck 



HINDENBURG, 219 

and von Biilow, commanding respectively the first and 
second armies, had been given a week more, Paris would 
have fallen. Von Kluck, by his forced march, lost 
touch with von Biilow, and stood, so to speak, before 
the walls of Paris without any heavy artillery. 

In intimate German military circles many interesting 
stories abound in connection with the first great Ger- 
man War Council that decided the initial strategy of 
the campaign. The Kaiser, his son, and General von 
Moltke seem to have been the three extremists with re- 
gard to the Paris plan. It is said, or rather whis- 
pered, that both von Kluck and von Biilow, and even 
Falkenhayn, were opposed to it, at least in so far as it 
meant hacking through within the shortest possible 
time, which, so they feared, would make it impossible 
for them to establish the proper communication lines. 
But the objections of the majority were overruled by 
the minority. In military circles the Kaiser and Crown 
Prince are largely blamed for the great Paris failure; 
but it is admitted that it was a bold Napoleonic incep- 
tion, a great gamble, which, had it been successful, 
would have ended the war in three months. Of course, 
they were, and for that matter still are, quite convinced 
that with the fall of Paris France would sue for peace. 
In fact, I was assured in Berlin that when von Kluck 
closed in on Paris, France intimated her readiness to 
negotiate peace conditions. 

To return for a moment to von Kluck's reported ob- 
jections at the Great War Council in regard to his lines 
of communication, it is interesting to note that in Ger- 
man military circles — again I must qualify this by 
adding that these matters were only discussed amongst 
officers of the higher command — the British army, by 
its splendid stand at Le Cateau and Cambrai, and its 
subsequent forward thrust that endangered von Kluck's 



220 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

right flank, is held largely responsible for the upsetting 
of the German plan. 

The causes of the troubles between Hindenburg and 
Falkenhayn have been widely discussed in the Allied 
Press, and are by now fairly well known. They can be 
summed up in two words : " East " and " West." Hin- 
denburg and LudendorfF had all their plans prepared 
for a break through to Petrograd this year. Who 
knows what might have happened at the Eastern front 
if Falkenhayn had not insisted upon " taking " Verdun? 
I think he deserves the eternal gratitude of the Allies. 
During the winter months of the Eastern campaign the 
German lines there are largely held by barbed wire and 
machine-guns. 

Falkenhayn, on account of his Austrian descent, was 
in the latter part of his command very unpopular. 
They tell a rather grim story. Hindenburg is sup- 
posed to have put the following conundrum to him: 
" What is the best part of Austria ? " And the answer 
is " Her Ally." One of Falkenhayn's nicknames is 
« Falschenhayn " (" falsch " for " false "). 

One of Hindenburg's Staff Captains I met, a Haupt- 
mann Frantz, was on von Kluck's Staff in the early part 
of the war, and he proudly informed me that he was one 
of the very few officers who had caught a glimpse of 
the Eiffel Tower. I did not tell him so, but I think it 
will be the only glimpse he will catch of it during the 
war. 

To return to Ludendorff for a moment. Two of his 
famous maxims are said to be: 

" A General Staff must have no nerves. A nervous 
Staff makes a whole army restless." 

" You cannot conduct war with sentimentality." 




-r. ^ 



z o 



z ;: 

M SI. 
3 O 



LUDENDORFF, FALKENHAYN 221 

There has been a certain amount of speculation as to 
why new titles have been created for Hindenburg and 
Ludendorff in their recent promotion. Since the days 
of old Moltke the official designation has always been 
" Chief of the General Staff of the Field Army." I 
wonder whether Hindenburg's contempt for the Berlin 
General Staff had anything to do with this.'' He used 
to describe the officers of the Berlin Staff, as I have 
already mentioned, as "Salon Offiziere " ("drawing- 
room officers"), the men who remain safely in Berlin 
and never even get their boots contaminated with trench 
mud. I have been wondering whether " of the Field 
Army " is Hindenburg's own special addition, so as to 
disown any connection with the " drawing-room " staff. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

RAILROADS 

ONE of old Moltke's legacies to the German General 
Staff was a warning " to build railroads, rail- 
roads, and still more railroads." 

" Railroads instead of forts," he always impressed 
upon his officers. To all appearances his advice has 
been well heeded. Germany has to-day nearly forty 
thousand miles of railway lines. From the moment 
mobilisation is proclaimed every railway employe is at 
the disposal of the military authorities. For special 
work, such as the building of new lines (in Belgium, 
Poland, etc.), the rebuilding of destroyed tracks and 
bridges, and for all work connected with strategical 
matters, two special (Prussian, of course) Railway 
Brigades are employed. (Bavaria has one Railway 
Battalion.) 

At the General Staff building in Berlin is a large 
room where every railway line in Germany is laid out in 
miniature. With one glance the Chief of the depart- 
ment — Hauptmann von Brauwitz — can tell to within 
a few miles where a certain train is or will be at any 
given hour of the day or night. Fascinated, I have 
watched Brauwitz and his assistant, when they were 
moving, by electricity, and from data contained in end- 
less telegrams, little steel blocks, each of them repre- 
senting a troop train or transport, into their latest 
positions. 

I am told that the railroad lines in Poland have been 

222 



RAILROADS 223 

changed five times from the broad Russian to the stand- 
ard German gauge. Germany, during the last seven 
years, has built thousands of railroad cars with ad- 
justable axles, which can be used on either the broad 
or the standard tracks. 

During the heavy fighting in East Prussia troop 
trains were run with an interval of from six to seven 
and a half minutes. Hindenburg juggled his army 
corps about from Southern to Northern Poland, from 
Galicia to East Prussia, as if they were so many pawns. 
Armies of three hundred thousand men, with bag and 
baggage, have been transferred nearly seven hundred 
miles in four days. 

Where can one find here an analogy with conditions 
in 1812? Frankly speaking, I can see none. 

There are eleven through lines that run east ; then 
there is the strategic railroad parallel to the whole 
frontier line, which starts at Myslowitz, in South-east- 
ern Silesia, near the point where Austria, Germany and 
Poland meet, and runs to Memel at the extreme north 
of East Prussia. 

Since the beginning of the German advance into 
Poland hundreds of miles of light railways (gauge 60 
cm.= 24 inches, described as " field railways ") have 
been built. It is claimed that they have proved so far 
a very fair substitute for the regular permanent way. 
They have proved invaluable in Poland. German rail- 
way experts maintain that three companies of their 
corps can build from a mile and a half to two miles of 
new — normal gauge — permanent way a day. On 
long stretches, taking into account all unforeseen cir- 
cumstances, they calculate on a mile a day. 

Although these emergency single-track lines have not 
the capacity of the ordinary peace-time-built railroads, 



^U BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

they can transport twenty-four troop trains or their 
equivalent a day. The change from broad to normal 
gauge is not as laborious as one might think. The 
Russian rails are laid on wooden sleepers, so the re- 
placing of one rail can, if carried out by experts, be 
done in a very short time. 

Speaking about bridges, I always looked upon a 
bridge as something strong and solid, something lasting. 
But since I have seen bridges occupying the most ludi- 
crous positions over the Vistula, the Njemen, the Narew, 
the Bsura, I have changed my mind. 

A German troop train usually carries about one bat- 
talion of infantry ; one and a half squadrons of cavalry, 
or one battery of artillery. (A German battery has 
six guns.) For the transportation of an entire army 
corps (about 42,000 men), with all its paraphernalia, 
transports, horses, automobiles, ambulances, guns, etc., 
about one hundred and forty trains are required. 

There are sixteen through — i.e., main — railway 
lines to the Western frontier. An officer of the Rail- 
way Corps of the G. G. S., whom I met in Berlin, 
claimed that during the first days of the mobilisation, 
when troops had to be quickly concentrated in the 
Western theatre of war, they ran a military train every 
ten minutes on every main line. In other words, an 
army corps a day. On the first day of mobilisation 
there passed through Cologne, from 8 p. m. till 4 a. m., 
sixty-four troop trains, on one track without the least 
hitch. 

What truth there is in these assertions I cannot say, 
but I do know that the hundreds of troop trains that 
I saw in various parts of Germany and Poland, fol- 
lowed each other at intervals of from eight to fifteen 
minutes. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

RETROSPECT 

THE three outstanding sensations of those fourteen 
days in Poland, as I look back on them now, seem 
to be: Fascination, horror and cold. Yet with it all it 
was an interesting experience. When I try to focus my 
mind on the many and varied scenes I witnessed, they 
stand out against a large white background of snow 
and woods. On this background, then, there appear 
gradually in my mind's eye smaller details of men, 
transports and animals ; thousands and thousands of 
Russian prisoners, and long sinister processions of am- 
bulance sleighs crawling along, sometimes over tracks 
that were called roads only by courtesy. I saw all 
sorts and descriptions of wounded Germans, and not a 
single one can I remember who did not have that look 
in his eyes signifying absolute apathy of the future. 

I will try here to reconstruct some of the scenes. 

An interesting phenomenon to me was the anxious 
way in which the lightly wounded clung to their rifles. 

They would — most of them already had — discard 
the larger part of their kit, but their rifles they jeal- 
ously guarded. The sentiment is a very logical one if 
one stops to think. It was explained to me as follows : 
" You see, as long as you are in possession of your 
rifle, you are practically considered undefeated. But 
lose it, and you are marked with the ominous stamp of 
failure and defeat. Why? Because it may, in spite of 
all protestations to the contrary, indicate that at some 

'225 



226 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

time or another you have thrown up your hands in 
token of surrender." 

In East Prussia, following close on the heels of the 
German armies, the roads were covered with returning 
refugees. With their few belongings loaded on all kinds 
of vehicles, drawn by some prehistoric horse, mule or 
donkey, they slowly wound their weary way towards 
their homesteads and villages. Few knew what they 
were going to find when returning home. Their house 
or cottage intact, or swept away by the fierce blast of 
war. Would they sleep once more under their own 
roofs or was it to be under the cold grey sky ? " Quien 
sabe?" 

" But what matter — Nitchewo. We shall be back 
on our own few square feet of land amongst our own 
people and presently we shall start building up again." 
Thus a little old grey-haired mother with whom I en- 
tered into conversation for a few moments while she was 
resting at the wayside. " We may have lost much, but 
oh, thousands and thousands have lost a great deal 
more." And with a " Griiss Gott, Herr, Griiss Gott," 
and a wee curtsy, the old lady joined the rest of her 
family and trudged along. 

Mlawa, a medium-sized Polish town, was one large 
hospital. Being situated on the direct railway to War- 
saw (about one hundred miles northwest of that city), 
it was on one of the main communication arteries with 
the front. Every house was a hospital. The proces- 
sion of motor-ambulances, sleighs and carts, loaded 
with wounded, seemed unending. Again, there was that 
eloquent language of the boots. Have you ever watched 
a number of ambulances pass by filled with wounded? 
And have you noticed the various expressions trans- 




< 

H 
O 



iib -. 



Iwwiipr^- 



RETROSPECT 227 

mitted by the boots that stick out and are the only part 
you see of the wounded man? To me there is nothing 
so pathetic, no story so human and sad, as that which 
is told by the four pairs of boot-soles staring at you 
from the back of an ambulance car. 

There were three reserve regiments stationed at 
Mlawa as well, and, consequently, in many houses half 
the rooms were sick wards, while the other half were 
used by the reserve troops. Naturally this frequently 
led to great confusion. While waiting for some repairs 
to be made on the car we entered one of those houses. 
In one room the smell of tobacco, rum, coffee and hot 
claret intermingled, while from the one next door came 
the sickly odour of carbolic, iodine, and other antisep- 
tics. The majority of the wounded were bedded on 
straw and lay very close together. If the true history 
of the Njemen battle is ever written, it certainly will 
show that on this occasion at least the German system 
and thoroughness failed lamentably as far as its medi- 
cal arrangements were concerned. The blame was laid 
on the condition of the Polish roads. 

As fast as train accommodation could be found for 
them, the wounded were transported to Germany. But 
it would seem that there were not cars enough in the 
land to hold the thousands and thousands of casualties 
that were brought up from the firing line. 

Here, as elsewhere, my knowledge of German came 
in most useful. It enabled me to talk to the non-com- 
missioned officers and men, several of whom I found 
most communicative and critical. I was told by two 
sergeants that their regiment had been in the trenches 
before Grodno for ten days, during which time they had 
not received a mouthful of hot food. A heavy snow- 
storm had made the roads and other approaches to the 



228 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

trenches absolutely impassable, so that the field-kitchens 
could not get anywhere near them. The only supplies 
they got were bread and lard. 

While I was sitting in front of a stove (I am still at 
Mlawa) to get my feet dry, the door was suddenly burst 
open, and a man, yelling at the top of his voice, an- 
nounced : " We have taken five thousand prisoners at 
Kirbaty." For a moment the news seemed to stun the 
occupants of the room, but for a few seconds only. 
Then fourteen voices broke out into a perfect bedlam 
of " Hochs ! " and " Hurrahs 1 " Glasses, tumblers, tin 
cups, bottles, and every other kind of receptacle, were 
lifted high and drained deep. The wounded were for- 
gotten. We are victorious, what matter the price? A 
young boy in the comer, who had both his legs shat- 
tered, kept on repeating hoarsely : " Five thousand 
prisoners ; five thousand prisoners." But though his 
lips formulated the words his mind was elsewhere. His 
eyes were moist, and when a little later he dozed off to 
sleep again, as the result of a merciful ansesthetic, he 
still whispered: "Five thousand prisoners; five thou- 
sand prisoners," but interspersed with : " Mother." 

Then there were the many nights when I was kept 
awake by the steady tramp of marching troops, and 
the shrill commands of the officers. One night, in the 
neighbourhood of Prasnysz, when the car had broken 
down, I was trying to snatch a few hours' sleep in a 
wretched little country inn. My room was minus win- 
dows, door, or fire, and the temperature five degrees 
below " zero." About midnight there was a big com- 
motion under my "window." Cursing, shouting, 
whistling, as much uproar as if the Russians were in 
hot pursuit. The cause of the hubbub was the broken 



RETROSPECT 229 

axle of an ammunition wagon. It was holding up a 
long line of transports. A few extra teams were taken 
from the carts behind, a few dozen men gripped the 
spokes of the wheels, and the wagon was with great 
difficulty dragged into the ditch, and left there in the 
care of the two drivers. I stood at the window for an 
hour or more and watched the passing procession in the 
dim light of a misty moon. There were Prussians, 
Saxons, Bavarians, Brandenburgers, Chasseurs, artil- 
lery, wireless telegraphy wagons, field-kitchens and 
bakeries, all trekking through the night towards the 
blood-red dawn glimmering in the east. In the distance 
flashes of light and detonations of guns were bidding 
them their inhospitable welcome. Every now and then 
some section made a feeble effort to start a song, but it 
seldom met with much response. They have a new song 
in Germany these days, which might be called the equiva- 
lent of the British "Are we downhearted?" The re- 
frain runs: 

" Not every bullet finds its mark, 
For if every bullet did, 
Where would Kings and Emperors find their soldiers?" 

No, not every bullet finds its mark, but from what I 
saw that day at Mlawa, many of them did. 

At Skierniwiece, about forty-five miles southwest of 
Warsaw, I spent a night with a Polish doctor's family, 
and learned many interesting things about the German 
reign of terror. I saw several army orders printed in 
Polish and German, which warned the population 
against any act of violence committed against the Ger- 
man troops. The penalties threatened, in addition, of 
course, to the execution of the offenders, were : " In 
the case of one shot being fired, the house from which 



230 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

it came would be burned down ; in the case of two shots 
the whole street would be destroyed; but if three shots 
were fired, the whole town would be razed to the 
ground." 

The same old code, the same old story as in the West. 
Any inhabitant who was found in the streets after 8 
p. M, was liable to be shot. The inhabitants must agree 
to do the washing for the troops at a reasonable tariff, 
to be fixed by the German authorities. 

One man at Skierniwiece was dragged before a court 
and accused of having supplied a number of German 
soldiers with poisonous intoxicating liquor. The man 
was a small cabinet maker. Several Germans one day 
entered his place and, seeing a number of bottles in the 
corner, requisitioned them. The soldiers did not speak 
a word of Polish, and the Pole did not know German. 
He tried his best to prevent them from taking those 
bottles, but he was shown the butt-end of a rifle and a 
fat fist. The Germans smelled the bottles, discovered, 
or at least thought they did, spirit in them. They 
emptied some of them there and then, and took the re- 
mainder along with them. 

The bottles contained furniture polish, and evidently 
not even a German could stomach that ! 

In this great desert of horrors I had the good for- 
tune, though, to encounter now and again oases of 
brotherly love and sympathy. 

At Augustowo a German military dentist was prac- 
tising his profession in the street. A number of sol- 
diers were sitting and standing about waiting their 
turn. Amongst the spectators were an old Polish Jew 
and two elderly women. They followed the operations 
with keen and anxious interest, now and then putting 
their hands to their faces. The German doctor noticed 




D 

tf 



RETROSPECT 231 

them, and walking over to where they stood, asked them 
what ailed them. 

The man opened his mouth and pointed to something. 
The two women simultaneously wailed out their story 
of suffering. The doctor chased his soldier patient out 
of the chair, and put one of the women into it. After 
she had been treated, he attended the other woman, and 
finally took the old Jew in hand. The two females, 
in an awful mixture of Polish, German and hysterics, 
thanked the doctor, and, grasping his hand, kissed it 
eagerly. The Jew gravely shook hands with his bene- 
factor and slowly walked away. 

One cold and grey morning, while driving through the 
extensive forests of Augustowo, we came across a scene 
that would have touched a heart of stone. A giant 
Russian was sitting cross-legged in oriental fashion in 
the snow. On his lap he pillowed the head of a German 
private, whose stark body, long since cold and dead, 
was covered with the Russian's overcoat. An empty 
flask lay beside them in the snow. The Russian's left 
sleeve was soaked with blood, and, on investigation, we 
found that his elbow was completely smashed. And 
the man's sole comment was : " Nitchewo." 

In Kalish I saw a strange queue of Polish peasants 
holding all kinds of possible and impossible receptacles, 
waiting round a German field-kitchen for the distribu- 
tion of hot soup. 

I do not think that any of these scenes had been got 
up for my special benefit. 

At Kalish my personally conducted tour through the 
Eastern theatre of war ended. I bade good-bye to my 
courteous guide, tipped my very German chauffeur and 
his armed assistant, the man with the Staff horn, and 
twelve hours later I was back in Berlin. 



PART III 

AN INCOGNITO VISIT TO THE FLEET AND 
GERMANY'S NAVAL HARBOURS 



w 



CHAPTER XXX 

THE GERMAN ADMIRALTY 

E are not going to take any chances with our 



during the months I spent in Germany in 1915 ! You 
may listen to all the eulogies, promises, prophecies 
about " Unsere wunderbare Flotte," but you had bet- 
ter refrain , from asking any questions about it. It 
may cost you your liberty if you do. Suppose you ask 
a German an imprudent question about the Navy. If 
you are lucky he will refer you to the German Ad- 
miralty; if you are unlucky, you will probably be the 
guest of the Government the next day, if not sooner. 
If you take his advice and go to the Admiralty, they 
usually see you coming. Oh ! the many, many hours I 
have spent trying to reach the vitals of that palatial 
edifice, so symbolic of the organisation it directs. It 
is spick and span and brand-new, no old ramshackle 
building, with partitioned rooms in all sorts of corners 
and corridors, such as I found in the War Office on the 
Leipziger Strasse. The German Admiralty is a model 
building. On entering, you find yourself in a square, 
marble-columned atrium, which reminds one of the 
drawings and paintings of the portals of the old Roman 
baths. There are a number of waiting-rooms on both 
sides, and that is as far as ninety-nine out of a hun- 
dred people get. To advance beyond the doors lead- 
ing into the " holy of holies " is a labour that takes 
time, influence and brains. 

I shall not describe the devious ways and means 

which have to be employed in order to obtain admission 

235 



236 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

to the temple of the German would-be Neptune. Suf- 
fice it to say that, after having secured an introduction 
to Captain Lohlein, who at the time was — and I think 
still is — a high official at the Admiralty, being some- 
thing like their advertising manager, I finally passed 
through the inner portals of the sacred edifice. 

Once inside the building, my first impression was a 
reminder of the story about Lord Kitchener and the 
War Office: "Is there a bed here? No. Then go 
and get one." Many similar orders must have been 
given at the " Kaiserliches Marineamt." In several of 
the rooms I saw a field bed hidden in a corner or behind 
a screen. Yes, the German Navy is very active . . . 
in Berlin. 

One of the most fascinating departments in the 
" Marineamt " (Admiralty) in Berlin is " Abteilung 
XVL," where maps, plans, sketches, etc., are collected 
and kept. I spent an interesting morning there in 
Room 177, and feasted my eyes on many excellently 
drawn and photographed maps. It was there that I 
saw (for the first time) a six inch to the mUe map of 
Rosyth Harbour ; large scale maps of Plymouth, Ports- 
mouth, Dover, the mouth of the Thames, the entrance 
of the Mersey, the Liverpool docks, the Portsmouth 
dockyards, and various seaports ; also, a map of Eng- 
land, with the places marked where hostile landings 
had been made. I doubt whether there are many yards 
of Great Britain's coast that were not carefully 
mapped out there. 

But it is not of the British maps I wish to tell you. 
I was far more interested in the minute drawings and 
maps of Wilhelmshaven, Kiel, the Kiel Canal, Heligo- 
land, the North Sea coast and its defences, etc. I was 
naturally most anxious to " borrow " them for a little 
while. But that was easier wished than executed. 



THE GERMAN ADMIRALTY 237 

Maps from eight to ten feet long, fastened on rollers, 
are not quite the thing to " borrow " clandestinely. 
Nevertheless, I succeeded in obtaining a number of 
copies, much smaller, it is true, but exact replicas all 
the same, of those interesting and instructive German 
drawings. The maps accompanying these articles, viz., 
the general map, including the Kiel Canal ; those of the 
German coast defences on the North Sea and Heligo- 
land; the large scale map of Wilhclmshaven, and the 
map of Kiel Harbour and its anchorages, have all been 
drawn from those facsimiles. I doubt not that the 
German Admiralty would very much like to know how 
I obtained those copies. But I am not going to tell ! 

But to return to Captain Lohlein. He was a very 
pleasant, suave gentleman, but, unfortunately, they 
were not doing any advertising just then in the Navy. 
In answer to my inquiries, whether I might pay a visit 
to Kiel, Wilhclmshaven, the Canal, Emden, or Heligo- 
land, I received a point-blank refusal. " Impossible ; 
absolutely impossible ! " was the answer. In short, to 
use the well-worn phrase, " Es ist verboten." 

I knew then how British sailors must feel, when cruis- 
ing and searching the North Sea, eager for a sight of 
the German pennant. So near and yet so far ! Here 
I was in the heart of the enemy's country, and, what's 
more, at large, hardly the toss of a ship's biscuit from 
those pioneers of Germany's future, and yet unable to 
feast my eyes on them. Saddened and disappointed, 
I turned my back on Berlin and the inhospitable officials 
of the Admiralty, and moved to the free city of Ham- 
burg on the Elbe. Here, after a while, fortune fa- 
voured me, and my career of " crime " began. Through 
friends and acquaintances and other mediums, I had 
several chances of visiting the principal defences of 
Germany on the North Sea. Short clandestine trips to 



238 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

the coast; interesting, if brief, voyages on all sorts of 
quaint old vessels; railway and automobile journeys to 
various parts of the German North Sea coast — in 
short a veritable banquet of German Navy delicacies, 
with, as piece de resistance, a trip through the Kiel 
Canal. And this is what I have now to tell you about. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

Germany's coast defences 

FROM what I gathered during those trips, I believe 
there is not another defence system in the world 
that can be compared with Germany's two-hundred- 
mile coast-line on the North Sea (see map). I have 
marked the forts and batteries which I know are there, 
and I realise that I have by no means discovered them 
all. Germany possesses on her North Sea border the 
natural advantages of shallow waters and a sandy, flat 
coast, which in themselves afford a valuable safeguard 
against offensive operations. The tide rises about ten 
feet on the Elbe, and from six to seven on the Frisian 
coast. In peace the various sandbanks and dangerous 
places are marked by beacons and lights ; but, of course, 
since the beginning of the war everything that might 
facilitate navigation has been removed. The harbours 
are limited to those on the Elbe, the Weser, the Jade, 
and the Ems. They are approached by three narrow 
and tortuous channels, impossible to navigate without 
a pilot or expert knowledge of the charts. That is 
what nature has done for Germany. Science and art 
have done still more. 

The German coast-defence system is divided into two 
parts: the North Sea and the Baltic Divisions, each 
under command of a Vice-Admiral, with headquarters 
respectively at Wilhelmshaven and Kiel. It is gener- 
ally understood that the entire system is controlled by 
the Navy. That is not quite correct. There is no 
organisation in Germany, not even the Navy, in which 

239 



240 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

the German Army does not play some part. A case in 
point is the Island of Borkum, the most western of the 
Frisian Islands, and practically in sight of Holland. 
It guards the channels leading to Emden Harbour and 
to some minor ports on the Frisian coast. Although 
one of the most important units of the North Sea forti- 
fications, it is a military base and under control of the 
War Office. It is garrisoned and commanded by sol- 
diers. On the other hand, the Island of Wangeroog, 
which is, so to speak, on the right flank of the Frisian 
Islands, and guards the entrance to Wilhelmshaven and 
the Weser mouth, is entirely controlled and manned by 
the Navy. Other coast-defence stations which have 
remained under control of the Army are the fortifica- 
tions at Neufahrwasser in the Baltic, protecting the 
mouth of the Vistula, the forts at Pillau at the entrance 
of the Frische HaflT, the approach to the fortress of 
Konigsberg, and, finally, Swinemiinde, guarding the en- 
trance of the Stettiner Haff, the mouth of the Oder and 
the Vulcan shipbuilding yards. 

Every unit of the entire system — i.e., every harbour, 
dockyard, fort, battery, nay, I believe almost every 
single large gun — is connected with the others by a 
strategical railroad, and, in a smaller degree, by a sys- 
tem of canals. Thus Emden, on the extreme west, is 
connected with Memel in the east, almost in sight of 
Russia. The heart and brains of this great web are at 
Kiel. 

A great many improvements are being made at Em- 
den. It is the object of the German Admiralty to 
make this part another strong naval base. The chan- 
nel leading past the Island of Borkum towards Emden 
has recently been deepened to forty feet. Borkum is 
strongly fortified. It has two batteries of 10- and 11- 
inch guns, and a 15- or 16-inch howitzer battery. (A 



GERMANY'S COAST DEFENCES 241 

heavy German battery consists of four pieces.) Era- 
den is connected with Wilhelmshaven by the Ems-Jade 
Canal, so that the smaller units of the Navy can pass 
from one harbour to the other without having to go out- 
side. The main submarine stations on the North Sea 
are at Wilhelmshaven and Heligoland, with sub-stations 
at Emden, Cuxhaven, and one or two other points. 

" The German coast-defence system," so every one 
will assure you, " is, first of all, an offensive defence, 
effected through submarines and torpedo-boats, using 
the coast fortifications as a base." Furthermore, if I 
am to believe some of my informants, those people who 
think the German fleet lies inactive in the Kiel Canal 
are entirely wrong. It is continually on the watch, 
and its ships are day and night in the North Sea, often 
as far out as a hundred miles. It is guarding Ger- 
many's coast, and here follows a description of how 
it is done: 

Draw a circle with Heligoland as its centre, the cir- 
cumference passing through the Island of Sylt off the 
Schleswig-Holstein coast, and Borkum off that of Fries- 
land. The outer semicircle, having a radius of about 
sixty miles, is patrolled by torpedo-boats, which are on 
guard day and night ; and they will report at once any 
enemy warships that may venture near. Behind this 
line of patrols comes a cordon of fast cruisers, to give 
the " thin black line " a firm background. Finally, a 
third line of defence is formed by armoured cruisers, 
which act as a reserve and a support for the cruisers 
and torpedo-boats. The object of these three lines of 
defence is to engage and hold back any attacking enemy, 
until the Grand Battle Fleet — which naturally must 
remain safely in harbour, protected from submarine 
attacks — has had time to appear on the scene. In 
addition to these offensive lines of defence, every chan- 



242 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

nel leading to the various harbours is protected by 
mines and submarines. 

We may next examine the immobile and less elusive 
lines of German defence, viz., its coast batteries and 
forts. The Jade Bay, with Wilhelmshaven, is pro- 
tected by thirteen or fourteen almost impregnable forts. 
The surrounding country is flat and marshy, and no at- 
tempt has been made in most cases to mask the forts. 
A strategical railroad encircles the bay, starting at 
Eckwarden and terminating at the Frederick Lock op- 
posite the island of Spiekeroog. Wilhelmshaven is a 
veritable fortress in itself, surrounded by smaller forts 
and supporting batteries. Across the bay the four 
guns of the battery at Eckwarden show their heavy 
muzzles, while still further east, in the very centre of 
the mouth of the Weser, lie the twin forts, Langliitjen 
1 and 2. Bremerhaven, again, is a large fortress, sup- 
ported by the batteries of Forts Geestemiinde and Lehe, 
and several forts along the channel. There are a num- 
ber of forts from Lehe along the coast as far as Cux- 
haven, which is another important defensive centre. 
At this point the Elbe fortifications begin; and, as is 
the case at Jade, both sides of the bay are dotted with 
batteries and forts, from Cuxhaven to Stade, and from 
Gliickstadt to Plattenbronne. Brunsbiittel, about one 
and a half miles west of the Kiel Canal entrance, is a 
separate and strongly-armed fort. 

The ordnance of Germany's coast-defence system con- 
sists of the heaviest Krupp armament, as well as of 
lighter guns, the calibres ranging from 17-inch to 4.7- 
inch. At Wilhelmshaven, at Forts 1 and 2 Langliitjen, 
at Cuxhaven, and, I believe, but am not certain, at 
Wangeroog as well, the 17-inch howitzers predominate. 
The calibres most irx use are 10- and 11-inch. Many 



GERMANY'S COAST DEFENCES 243 

of these guns are mounted on movable platforms, placed 
in the centre of heavy steel railroad trucks, strong 
enough, it seemed to me, to carry a whole house. The 
guns themselves are protected by a sort of cupola of 
" Gruson plate." When not in use, they are stationed 
in special garages. I knew now the purpose of all 
these short lines and connecting railroads. If a con- 
certed attack on any point of the coast should be un- 
dertaken, these railway batteries can be moved rapidly 
to the place where they are most needed. 

The " Gruson plate " protected cupolas and turrets 
are a formidable and interesting feature of Germany's 
coast-defence system. Experiments with this armour- 
plate have shown that it is practically impervious to 
gun-fire. At the Krupps' offices in Berlin, there are 
certain official reports from the Italian Government 
concerning the tests to which Gruson plates have been 
submitted. A plate, weighing nearly 200,000 lbs., 
and intended for an Italian coastal battery, was fired 
upon at point-blank range by a 100-ton Armstrong 
gun, using Krupp steel shells. Three shots were fired 
at it, each projectile weighing 2,200 lbs., and requiring 
a powder charge of nearly 800 lbs. It stood the test 
faultlessly, and the only damage inflicted on it were 
four or five small cracks, varying from two to four 
inches in length. The steel shells that struck the plate 
splintered in hundreds of bits, which were so hot that 
they set fire to the surrounding woodwork. I have 
seen those Italian reports, and I have no reason to 
doubt their authenticity. If an Armstrong gun of such 
calibre, firing steel shells at point-blank range, is un- 
able to destroy that armour-plate, there seems small 
chance that a shell, whatever its size, fired from a neces- 
sarily considerable distance by a ship's gun, will make 
any impression at all. The batteries of every fort of 



244 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

any importance, both on the Baltic and the North Sea, 
are protected by this armour-plate. 

The cupolas contain mostly 8.2-inch guns, and the 
turrets the 10-inch, 11-inch and larger calibres. In 
naval and other well-informed German circles, they are 
convinced that there is no British Admiral hving who 
would risk his ships against such batteries. 

I was in Germany when the first attempt to force 
the Dardanelles was made. Naturally, the whole plan 
was dismissed as incapable of execution. Every naval 
or military officer with whom I talked was convinced 
that the Narrows could never be forced by a naval at- 
tack. I was told that, shortly after Turkey entered 
the war, one of the first things Germany saw to was 
that the batteries of the Narrows forts were strength- 
ened and protected by Gruson armour-plate. Whether 
this assertion is true or not, I have not been able to 
ascertain; but, if true, it partly explains the compara- 
tively small damage caused by the bombarding fleets. 

The average German naval officer is an ardent ad- 
mirer and student of the late Admiral Mahan's doc- 
trines. His writings are frequently quoted, especially 
when the possibilities of a British attack on the German 
North Sea coast are discussed. On the strength of his 
conclusions they insist that no ship has any chance 
against a modern fort. 

As an illustration of the advantages possessed by 
coast batteries over ships, I was shown a copy of an 
official report from the French Admiralty, concerning 
certain experiments made in 1914. For three days a 
number of French battleships, using their heaviest guns, 
fired on several shore batteries placed at different ele- 
vations. The result of the trial proved that, even un- 
der the most adverse conditions, only about fifty per 
cent, of the personnel serving the shore batteries would 



GERMANY'S COAST DEFENCES 245 

have been injured, while hardly thirty per cent, of the 
guns could have been placed out of action. " And," 
my informants added, " the French have no armour- 
plate that can compare with our Gruson." Inquiries 
as to why they did not use this kind of armour-plate 
to protect their ships elicited the information that it is 
too heavy for that purpose. 

Through my letter of introduction to Herr Krupp, I 
met Herr Crass, Krupp's General Representative in 
Berlin. Herr Crass, who has his palatial offices in the 
Voss Strasse, occupies one of the most important posts 
in the Krupp organisation. He is the official inter- 
mediary between his firm and the German War Office. 
I had several long conversations with him, and found 
him one of the most pleasant and interesting Germans 
I met. Shortly after our meeting I dropped in at his 
office, and found him much incensed over a report, pub- 
lished in some of the Allied papers, stating that a Krupp 
gun sold to the Argentine Government had burst. 

" It is a falsehood of the first order," he protested. 
" Never in all the years that we have been building guns 
has there been a case of a burst Krupp cannon. If the 
proper charges of explosives are used it is simply im- 
possible." 

One of his chief arguments against the possibility of 
a burst Krupp gun seemed to be that the barrel is made 
of one solid piece of " crucible nickel steel." " Com- 
pare this with the British Woolwich-built guns," he con- 
tinued. " The barrels of these guns consist of several 
parts. First, there is the rifling, which is fitted in an 
inner tube. Over this comes a wire covering, consist- 
ing of steel sheet ribbon wound round the inner tube at 
a very high pressure. Finally, there comes the outer 
tube which covers the whole. Our guns of 12, 14 and 
15-inch calibre have a life more than three times as long 



246 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

as the equivalent guns in the British Navy. These 
guns can deliver close on two hundred and thirty rounds, 
while British-built guns are hardly good for more than 
sixty rounds for the 12 and 13^-inch calibre, and 
eighty rounds for their 15-inch." 

The proviso of " proper explosives " brought us to 
discuss the comparative merits of the powders used by 
Germany and England. Here, too, Herr Crass claimed 
superiority for the German product. The British pow- 
der, so he said, contained ingredients which are very 
hard on the guns, tending to destroy the rifling. The 
German powder, containing twenty-five per cent, nitro- 
glycerine (for their heavy calibres), is supposed to be 
far preferable to the British cordite charges. " Their 
powder " (meaning the British) " is in a large degree 
responsible for the comparatively short life of their 
big guns. Apart from the damage it does to the rifling, 
it causes cracks and abrasions in both the inner and 
the outer tubes long before the allowed maximum is 
reached. Naturally this causes great inaccuracy of 
fire." I thought of the " inaccuracy " of the British 
guns in the Falkland Islands battle, the Doggerbank 
affair, and other occasions when there was an oppor- 
tunity of testing them; but I merely asked why, if the 
British powder had all those bad qualities, did the Brit- 
ish stick to it.'' All! there were several reasons. In the 
first place, it seems (according to my informant) less 
expensive to renew the guns than it would be to change 
all the British powder factories ; in the second place, 
the British powder is the safest and keeps best of any 
in the world; and, finally, England, being firstly a 
Naval Power, calculates on quick results in a pitched 
battle. In other words, a decision would be reached 
long before the big guns had fired their maximum num- 
ber of rounds. It is characteristic of every German 



GERMANY'S COAST DEFENCES 247 

to-day to place financial considerations always nearest 
to the British heart. 

I was treated to some interesting details regarding 
the efficiency of the German naval gunner. At a recent 
gun-practice of the Helgoland (a battleship of 23,000 
tons, mounting 12-inch guns), one of these guns, firing 
a projectile of 981 lbs., struck a moving target, six 
miles distant, six times in fifty-eight seconds ! She also 
delivered six broadsides (eight guns) in one minute at 
a moving target some eight miles off, and hardly visible 
to the naked eye. More than two-thirds (over 5,000 
lbs.) of each broadside hit the target. Those amongst 
my readers who are not au courant with the many ac- 
complishments of a 12-inch gun, should ask one of their 
naval friends, and then they will learn what wonders 
these German gunners are. It is usually understood 
that two, perhaps at the utmost three, shots a minute 
from a 12-inch gun is the limit. Another record is said 
to be held by this ship. I was told that at a compe- 
tition held in March, 1915, she coaled 756 tons in one 
hour. But, of course, Germany is a surprising coun- 
try! 

I also learned of some marvellous performances of 
the coast battery personnel. I noticed, at various 
points along the coast, fairly hip-h observation towers, 
and managed to pay a visit to one of them. In each 
of them are stationed two naval officers, who, armed 
with poAverful telescopes and with numerous charts and 
maps, watch day after day for any enemy vessels that 
may have eluded the three-fold line of guard-ships. As 
soon as an enemy ship is discovered, the observing 
officer, by means of his chart, ruled into many squares 
and angles, immediately calculates its position and the 
angle of fire for the respective batteries he serves. The 



248 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEH. 

result of the calculation is at once telephoned to the 
diflPerent commanders in charge; and although the men 
at the guns are unable to see their target, they open 
fire. Gun-practices held with this system of indirect 
fire showed that a target nine miles out at sea was 
struck seven times out of ten. Now we know — as they 
do in Germany — why the British fleet keeps at a safe 
distance from these gunnery experts i 





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CHAPTER XXXII 

HELIGOLAND 

THE subject of Heligoland is one that to-day is 
very near to the heart of every German, but 
especially of those who are in any way connected with 
the Navy. The mere mention of the name will bring 
delight to his face. More likely than not, he'll slap you 
on the back, and, with a grin of satisfaction and a con- 
fidential, knowing air — as if he were personally re- 
sponsible for the fact that the island is German now — 
will assure you that " We certainly scored a point on 
old England that time." 

The transaction between the British and German 
Governments, through which the latter obtained Heligo- 
land was by no means always as popular with the Ger- 
mans as it is to-day. 

In 1890 von Caprivi, four months after he had suc- 
ceeded Bismarck, concluded with Lord Salisbury what 
has ever since been considered one of the most compre- 
hensive of all African agreements, viz., the treaty defin- 
ing the spheres of influence in East and West Africa 
between Great Britain and Germany. It included, in 
return for Germany's recognition of a British Protec- 
torate over Zanzibar, the cession of Heligoland to Ger- 
many. 

Bismarck, together with the rapidly-growing Colonial 
party, severely criticised both the terms and the prin- 
ciple of this treaty, maintaining that it destroyed all 
possibility of a greater East African German Empire. 
They refused to accept von Caprivi's contention that 
" the days of flag hoisting " were over. Heligoland 

249 



250 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

appeared but a small compensation for what they aban- 
doned in East Africa. But times and sentiments have 
changed very much since those early days. Heligo- 
land has become the very apple of their eye, and I am 
certain the Germans would sooner return Alsace and 
Lorraine to-morrow than give up that mile-long piece 
of rock. " Heligoland must and shall always remain 
German soil," so everybody in Germany will assure 
you. All the money in the world, I believe, could not 
buy back Heligoland to-day. As a prominent German 
naval authority expressed himself : " If Heligoland 
belonged to England to-day, we should be like rats 
in a trap." 

Heligoland forms, with Wilhelmshaven and Kiel, the 
nucleus of the German coast-defence system. It is situ- 
ated about forty miles from the mainland and equi- 
distant from the Weser and Elbe mouths. It consists 
of two islands, the larger about a mile in length, with 
an upper and lower level (" Ober- " and " Unterland "), 
and the unimportant and much smaller one (half a mile 
east), named Sand Island. At the beginning of hos- 
tilities, every inhabitant, man, woman and child, not in 
some way connected with the navy and the defence of 
the island, was packed off. Most of them were sent to 
Hamburg, where I met several of them. It is interest- 
ing to note that several native Heligolanders are in- 
terned as British aliens, yet none of them have ever set 
foot in England. They are the men who, after the 
cession in 1890, chose to retain their British nation- 
ality. Among the two thousand odd inhabitants were 
a large number of women who had never left the island 
since they were born. There were many sad scenes on 
that Monday, August 3rd, the day before England de- 
clared war. Very few of them — so several Heligo- 
landers told me personally — ever expected to see their 



HELIGOLAND 251 

homes again. They doubt not for one moment that, 
sooner or later, the British will blow up the whole 
island. 

It is futile to try to get anywhere near Heligoland. 
None but accredited German naval ships are allowed 
nearer than about ten miles. The nearest I got to 
Heligoland (in 1915) was about two miles — by air — 
about the only way, I think, to get that far. From the 
high altitude we were at, the little triangular piece of 
land seemed hardly more than a large rock. It was a 
clear day. The rays of the sun, thrown against the 
steep reddish cliffs, were reflected in the water, and 
seemed to form a kind of halo along the southwestern 
side of the island. It was a most fascinating sight. 

It is curious that the only two occasions when I have 
set eyes on Heligoland are recorded in my mind as a 
colour scheme of a harmonious and picturesque charac- 
ter. The first occurred some sixteen years ago, shortly 
after the opening of the Kiel Canal. During the sum- 
mer months, excursion steamers, making the round trip 
to Heligoland in one day, sail several times a week from 
different points on the coast. On approaching the 
island, especially from the southeastern coast, the effect 
of the steep red cliffs, hollowed by the sea into all kinds 
of fantastic figures and columns, is very striking. The 
Oberland is mostly covered with meadows. The colour 
scheme of three distinct hues is, I think, one of the 
strangest natural formations I have ever seen. The 
red cliffs are fringed above by the grassy slopes of the 
" Oberland," and below by the white sand of the beaches 
of the " Unterland." On the boat a native Heligo- 
lander, who was standing near and evidently read the 
admiration in my eyes, explained to me that those three 
colours represent the flag of the island. He cited and 
wrote down for me the following Frisian verse: 



S52 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

"Gron is dat Land, 
Rood is de Kant, 
Witt is de Sand — 
Dat is de Flag vun't Hallige Land." 

Immediately after taking possession of the island, the 
Germans proceeded to make it the Gibraltar of the 
North Sea. Its armaments, defences, positions, etc., 
are secrets which have been most jealously, and I am 
convinced, most successfully guarded. Although, as I 
said above, I was unable to satisfy my thirst for knowl- 
edge by a personal visit, I managed to obtain some in- 
teresting and first-hand descriptions of the place, which 
is more than most " travellers " and " students " have 
gained; and, although I was unable to obtain a photo- 
graphic copy of the official large scale map of Heligo- 
land, I have had plenty of opportunities of studying the 
lay of the land. 

While the importance of Heligoland as a protective 
harbour of refuge for German warships is, of course, 
slight as compared to the safety of the Kiel Canal, its 
value as a coaling station and a submarine and tor- 
pedo-boat base is incalculable. During the last four 
or five years over 80,000,000 marks ($7,500,000) have 
been expended on the construction of large moles, har- 
bours, sea-walls, etc., in order to protect the island 
from the ravages of the storms, and, at the same time, 
offer some shelter to ships. On the southeastern side 
two moles have been built, one of nearly 2,000 feet, and 
another of 1,300 feet in length. In this way something 
over seventy acres of land have been reclaimed. The 
new harbour surface extends to over eighty acres, and 
is divided into the North and the South Harbours. 
The former is the smaller. The latter has a large num- 
ber of short piers for submarines and torpedo-boats. 
Their depth is about twenty-three feet. 



HELIGOLAND 253 

The armament of Heligoland consists of five batteries 
(four guns each), divided into two direct-fire batteries 
of 12-inch calibre and three howitzer batteries with 
ordnance of from 11- to 17-inch. Owing to the advan- 
tageous positions of these batteries, placed on the up- 
per level at heights of from 180 to 220 feet above the 
sea, they are able to fire in all directions, which — so 
it is claimed — excludes any possibility of an attack 
on the entrances of the Elbe and Weser mouths, or the 
Kiel Canal, and also makes a close blockade of those 
harbours impossible. The plunging fire, which the ele- 
vation of these batteries makes it possible to direct, 
would prove destructive to even the heaviest type of 
armour-plate. Lord (Charles) Beresford is frequently 
quoted, in connection with Heligoland's defences, as 
having said that no commander would dare to expose 
his ships to a fire of this kind. Even if, by some mira- 
cle, an eneni}'^ ship should succeed in reaching the island, 
it would be a practical impossibility to carry it by 
storm, owing to the almost perpendicular steepness of 
the cliffs. 

From the outside not a gun is visible. Every gun is 
protected by Gruson turrets or cupolas, all built on the 
disappearing principle. The emplacements have been 
cut into solid rocks, and so have the ammunition depots 
and bomb-proof shelters. Krupp anti-aircraft guns 
are stationed at points of vantage, and it is claimed 
that they are able to fire close on three miles (15,000 
feet) high. Provisions and ammunitions of all kinds 
are stored in the various depots, enough to last a year, 
while an ample number of sailors, calculated " for all 
eventualities," as the official phrase runs, are garrisoned 
in the fortress. 

In 1913 the 5th Artillery Naval Division (four com- 
panies), forming part of the Heligoland garrison, won 



254 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

the Kaiser prize for having obtained the highest scores 
in target practice with heavy coast batteries. Bril- 
liant results were also obtained by so-called " indirect 
fire." 

The lighthouse, situated near the southwest corner 
of the island, is the highest on the North Sea coast 
{266 feet). Its apex, well over 460 feet above sea 
level, serves as an excellent observation point. The 
lighthouse guards have surrendered their station to 
naval officers. An elaborate wireless system, one of the 
most powerful of its kind, is continually in touch with 
the other stations on the North Sea and any ships 
which may be outside. 

Interesting arguments by German and alien naval 
authorities are recorded in certain confidential reports 
about the fortifications and the general aspects of 
Heligoland. It has been maintained by some that the 
fortress would become untenable if subjected to a heavy 
bombardment. They argue that the modern H.E. 
shells would blow the sandstone rocks to bits, dislodge 
the batteries, and make them useless. It is claimed that 
a prolonged fire of the batteries themselves would have 
serious effects on their positions. But against those 
arguments were placed the reports of experiments made 
by German experts, in which it was stated that no vital 
part of the island had been affected by many consecu- 
tive concussions of even the heaviest ordnance of the 
cliff batteries, nor by any explosions caused by direct 
fire against the outside rocks. At present I think 
Heligoland is only vulnerable by an air attack. A fleet 
of aeroplanes could do an immense amount of damage 
on that strip of land — a mile long, and from a quarter 
to a third of a mile wide. From the map I have seen, it 
seems that there are few spots in which a bomb could 
fall without doing considerable damage. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

PROTECTION OF THE KIEL CANAL 

A WEEK or SO after my arrival in Hamburg I 
learned that Admiral von Koester was to give a 
lecture at the University of Kiel. Of course, I could 
not afford to miss such an interesting and instructive 
event. Consequently, I persuaded a German naval ac- 
quaintance to be my companion on a little voyage of 
discovery, which — incidentally, of course — would in- 
clude a visit to Kiel. A naval uniform is a passport 
anywhere in Germany, and my passport was much in 
need of both moral and physical support. This was 
my first visit to Kiel. On the second occasion, when I 
passed through the Canal (as described below), being 
without such an escort, and since Kiel is an unhealthy 
place for any foreigner in these days, I left it without 
delay. 

I believe it would be simpler for a soldier to pass in 
khaki through Belgium and Brussels than for a spy to 
get within sight of the Kiel Canal. There is hardly a 
yard of land or water along the Canal or near its ap- 
proaches, that is not guarded night and day. Near the 
Canal everything is " Verboten." You must not enter 
the zone — one mile on either side of the Canal — with- 
out a special permit. Even if you have a pass, you are 
not allowed to enter the zone without being accom- 
panied by a soldier. From every village and town 
which lies in the proximity of the Canal every foreigner, 
whether naturalised or not, has been expelled. Even 
Germans whose reputations were not spotless had to 

go too. 

255 



^56 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

At the various bridges — either railroad or highway 
— the ferries and every other kind of crossing, whole 
platoons of soldiers are stationed. Parcels that could 
be carried across are thoroughly examined ; civilians are 
not allowed to cross the Canal unless chaperoned by a 
soldier. Motor-cars, carriages, wagons — in short, 
vehicles of every kind and description — must be es- 
corted by a soldier in order to reach the other side. 
Everybody must be in possession of a special pass, is- 
sued by the Mayor and countersigned by two prominent 
citizens of the town or village where he lives ; his busi- 
ness must be stated thereon; whether he enjoys a good 
reputation, and numerous other details. The pass is 
only valid for the particular station of the Canal for 
which it is issued. It must be applied for at least a 
week beforehand, so that the local authorities have 
ample time to despatch a list of the passes issued to the 
Canal authorities. The passenger cannot change his 
route. If he should present himself at any other sta- 
tion his name would be unknown there and he would 
be arrested at once. The formalities at the railroad 
stations giving access to the four railroad bridges are 
the severest of all. On reaching the last station before 
the Canal, all the passengers must alight. After your 
pass has been examined and not found wanting, your 
luggage thoroughly overhauled, your pockets searched, 
you may return to your seat in the train. You might 
think that they would trust you now ; but, no, " we 
cannot take any chances." Some fifty soldiers with 
fixed bayonets and loaded rifles enter the train and are 
posted either in the vestibules of the carriages, or — 
as is usually the case — one in each compartment. 
The blinds must be drawn, and the doors are locked on 
the outside. Sentries near the bridges have stringent 



PROTECTION OF THE KIEL CANAL 257 

instructions to fire without warning at any one seen 
prowling round. The anti-aircraft guns on the locks, 
bridges, and other points along the Canal are manned 
day and night. 

Everything possible is done to discourage unneces- 
sary travelling in the Canal zone. " It is better," so 
they argue, *' to suspect and inconvenience a thousand 
innocent travellers, than that one guilty person should 
slip through." 

" My dear sir, do you think we are fools .'' " exclaimed 
a German officer whom I chaffed about these precau- 
tionary measures. " What do you think it would be 
worth to the British to have our Canal put out of busi- 
ness, even if only temporarily? Millions, my dear sir, 
milUons. In these times, and certainly as far as our 
Canal is concerned, we suspect everybody, and will con- 
sider him ' not guilty ' — for the time being only — 
when he has reached the other side without accidents to 
the Canal. The reports from the different stations in 
the zone would make interesting reading, especially for 
the British. We have caught very strange fish here, 
and big ones too. A special court-martial is continu- 
ally sitting at Kiel, charged only with the investigation 
of Canal cases, and I can assure you that justice is 
meted out here, quick and drastic. Death is practi- 
cally the only verdict." 

According to stories heard in Hamburg and Kiel, 
many attempts have been, and are still being, made to 
bribe native Germans. Several neutrals have tried 
their hands at earning a quick, but not an easy penny. 
" Ugh ! " said an officer, whom I met in Kiel, contemptu- 
ously, " the English are no good at secret-service work. 
Why.** Because they lack the one great essential — the 
fanatical spirit of patriotism, which is born in us, and 



258 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

is instilled into us from the cradle. If the English had 
a Canal half as important to them as this is to us, it 
would have been wrecked long ago." 

I heard that during the early days of the war several 
Englishmen were caught red-handed. Attempts were 
made to blow up the two giant locks at the Kiel end. 
One man was caught near one of the railroad bridges. 
He was disguised as a workman. His pass and other 
papers seemed quite in order. When they searched him 
nothing suspicious was found, and they almost let him 
go. But one of the officials suddenly had the bright 
idea to look inside his dinner pail. And there, beneath 
innocent layers of cheese sandwiches and hard-boiled 
eggs, they discovered enough explosives to blow up half 
a dozen bridges. 

I was shown in Hamburg by a young and communi- 
cative officer (it was after one of those convivial dinners 
of the Vaterland, concluding with French cognac and 
" Deutschland iiber AUes ") a set of most interesting 
photographs. They showed wrecks and " accidents " 
in the Canal since the beginning of the war. One 
Swedish freighter, loaded with lumber, was seen almost 
blocking the channel. As my friend the enemy ex- 
plained, several tugs arrived only just in time to drag 
the steamer sufficiently to one side, so as not to obstruct 
the water-way entirely. The " accident " occurred in 
October, 1914. What happened to that Swedish cap- 
tain and his crew I could not ascertain, but I was as- 
sured, with an ominous wink of the eye, that that skip- 
per would never pass through the Canal again. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

FROM EMDEN TO WILHEI*MSHAVEN 

AT the outbreak of hostilities the following procla- 
mation concerning the operation of the Kiel Canal 
in time of war was issued by the German Government: 

" The war operations of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal 
have begun. The Canal zone is closed at present for 
merchant vessels. Exceptions thereto require in every 
instance the permission of the Chief of the Naval Sta- 
tion of the Baltic Sea at Kiel." 

The " exceptions " are practically confined to such 
neutral ships as carry provisions for the Army or Navy, 
or are supplying Germany with foodstuffs. But in all 
cases the captains of these neutral ships must be per- 
sonally known to the German authorities, and a large 
bond must be put up for them either by their employers 
or by themselves. Until the end of 1915 only Dutch, 
Danish, Swedish or Norwegian steamers had obtained 
permits to pass through the Canal. From what I have 
seen of the inconveniences, the trouble, the red tape, 
that the Captains have to put up with every time they 
make the trip to or from Germany, I can assure you 
that, whatever their emoluments may be, they earn 
every penny of them. 

With great difficulty I managed to get a passage on 
one of these neutral steamers. To all intents and pur- 
poses my nationality was the same as that of the vessel 
on which I sailed. I speak German quite fluently, 
which was, of course, of great additional assistance. I 
joined the little 600-ton steamer at Emden, Germany's 
most western port. We proceeded on the inside — i.e., 

259 



260 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

through the Ems-Jade Canal, to Wilhelmshaven, and 
thence by Cuxhaven through the Kiel Canal to Kiel. 
Although the actual distance we travelled is well under 
two hundred miles, it took us the best part of five days. 
It was not what you might call a joy ride, but, never- 
theless, I would not have missed it for a great deal, for 
I learned more about the German fleet in those five days 
than I had in all the weeks I spent in Germany. 

Through the Ems-Jade Canal, bordered on both sides 
by flat, marshy country, the trip was uneventful; but 
when we got within sight of Wilhelmshaven, the fun 
began. About three miles from our day's destination 
an officer and eight sailors came on board, and, after 
having carefully examined our ship's papers, proceeded 
on a search of ship and crew as systematic and 
thorough as I have ever seen. But then, of course, I 
had never before attempted to enter Germany's most 
important naval base. It is quite true that she takes 
no chances with her fleet. The search, checking of 
papers, reports, messages to Wilhelmshaven, and nu- 
merous other formalities, took the better part of four 
hours. When finally our permits arrived, four sailors 
and a petty officer came on board, and under their 
guidance we finished the three miles that separated us 
from the famous naval base. Through a system of 
locks, we reached the " Coal Harbour," which is part of 
the New Harbour of Wilhelmshaven. By devious 
methods and devices I had been able to time our arrival 
so that it would be too late to go out into the bay that 
same afternoon. We were told to make fast and pre- 
pare to stay the night. That was exactly what I had 
schemed for. 

Through the courtesy of one of the harbour officials 
I was enabled to send a message to a naval surgeon, 
whom I had known in New York, and to whom I had 



FROM EMDEN TO WILHELMSHAVEN 261 

been able to render a not inconsiderable service. The 
doctor proved a friend in need, and, to begin with, in- 
vited me to dinner at the " Casino " (" Officers' Mess "), 
situated in the park a few hundred yards from the Im- 
perial Docks. I was made most welcome b}^ some sixty- 
odd naval officers. Among those whom I met I recall 
Grand-Admiral von Koester, Rear-Admiral Gadke, Ad- 
miral von Ingenohl, Rear-Admiral Hipper, and many 
others. It was on this occasion, too, that I made the 
acquaintance of the notorious Captain-Lieutenant 
Her sing, the (then embryo) " Lusitania Hero." I had 
a talk with him on submarine matters, to which I shall 
return later. 

On entering the " Casino," I was at once struck by 
the large number of drawings, paintings and carica- 
tures, depicting the Navy and its work, which almost 
covered the walls in every room and hall. Most of the 
caricatures, of course, played on England. Some of 
them were amusing. There was a picture of two 
mermen at the bottom of the sea, enjoying the many 
good things the Emden is throwing them, which is a 
very popular poster. A large copy of it, set in a mag- 
nificent frame of mahogany and old gold, hangs in the 
Casino, between the portraits of the Kaiser and the 
Kaiserin. It is surrounded by photographs of Captain 
Miiller, Captain Miicke (who with a remnant of the 
crew escaped into Turkey), and other officers of the 
Emden. 

Indeed, I shall long remember that dinner at the 
officers' mess in Wilhelmshaven ; but if I could give a 
full shorthand report of the conversations I listened to 
that evening, I fear you would think I had dined in a 
lunatic asylum instead of an officers' mess. One or two 
examples will suffice. 

The talk was all " shop " and war, of course. That 



262 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

same evening a number of airmen had returned from 
" active service on the North Sea," and the conversa- 
tion drifted into the subject of " Aircraft in relation to 
the invasion of England." It seems that the idea of 
invading England with the assistance of the Navy has 
for the present been shelved. The North Sea.'' Ah, 
indeed, it was a great protection, a formidable obstacle ; 
but, sir, remember the old axiom about a chain being 
only as strong as its weakest link. So with the North 
Sea. It is only as wide as its narrowest point — i.e., 
twenty-five miles. That was the great principle to keep 
always before one's mind, because in that figure Eng- 
land's future doom lay sealed ! Calais, not Egypt any 
more, was England's throat, the key to British world- 
power. Germany's motto was no longer " Our future 
lies on the water," but should read henceforth, " On the 
water — for peace ; under the water and in the air — 
for war." What could prevent Germany, with its mar- 
vellous industrial developments, wonderful inventions, 
from building, say, 100,000 aeroplanes? After Ger- 
many had once taken firm hold of Calais, an army of 
^00,000 men could be thrown into England within less 
than half an hour, by aeroplane ! 

Of course, the invasion would be carried out during 
the night. They had only figured on two men to each 
aeroplane; but, considering the negligible distance, 
which would exclude the necessity of carrying any sur- 
plus gasoline, the carrying capacity of the machine 
might easily be doubled. The Landing.'' 

" Ha ! my friend, you may be certain that Germany, 
in an undertaking of this kind, would not risk failure 
in overlooking the smaller details. When the time 
comes there will be plenty of friends, in some disguise or 
other, ' British subjects,' some born, others naturalised, 
who will light the way for us. Burning houses, electri- 




Popular Naval Poster 

"Let us drink the health of the good old Emden who is throieing 

such (t lot of ijood things in our way" 



FROM EMDEN TO WILHELMSHAVEN 263 

cal appliances, searchlights, rockets, etc., will serve. 
Trust the German thoroughness to be prepared for all 
emergencies when ' The Day ' has arrived. Already to- 
day the fear of invasion causes periodical panics in 
England. But it is most remarkable, even for the 
short-siglited British, that they never realised until the 
present war, and then only in a limited degree, the 
vital importance, nay, the deadly menace, aviation is 
to their country. From the time the air was conquered 
England ceased to be an island. And they refused to 
listen to the brothers Wright, who gave them their 
first chance! British stupidity, British insularity." 

The next subject which was discussed, and, of course, 
settled, was the peace terms. Europe was cut up and 
the pieces handed round like a birthday cake. " Every 
country that has joined us will be amply compensated. 
Those who have gone against us — well, God help 
them." The division of Europe will be about as fol- 
lows: 

" Germany will take the Baltic provinces, including 
Petersburg and the whole of Poland. Austria will re- 
ceive the whole south of Russia, including KiefF and 
Odessa ; Turkey, the whole Caucasus, including the 
Department of Saratow. The Russians must be sepa- 
rated not only from the Baltic, but from the Black and 
Caspian Seas as well. Sweden gets Finland. Serbia, 
of course, will go to Austria. Egypt will be returned 
to Turkey. If Roumania intervenes in time on the 
right side, she will get Bessarabia and some minor 
territories." 

" The embarras des richesses of colonies will, when 
the spoils come to be divided, actually become a prob- 
lem. So far as India and Egypt are concerned, our 
only wish to-day is to help these nations to liberate 
themselves from the British yoke. To Algiers, Tunis 



^64 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

and Morocco we would also restore their autonomy. 
With Belgium, we, of course, take possession of the 
Congo State. The interests of France in Morocco 
will cease at once, since she has used its natives to fight 
against us. Turkey will occupy the Suez Canal. The 
shares of that company owned at present by England 
will be declared null and void. 

" The economical conditions under which the an- 
nexed territories will be incorporated in the German 
Empire may be of various kinds ; but one fundamental 
principle should never be lost sight of, viz., that elec- 
toral rights — i.e., the right to elect members for the 
Reichstag — remains a prerogative of the Germans 
living within the old boundaries of the Empire. The 
natives of Poland will have their own Parliament in 
Warsaw; those of the Baltic provinces, in Petersburg. 
The Belgians, of course, may retain their Parliament in 
Brussels, while for the annexed provinces of France — 
Calais, Rheims, Belfort, etc. — a separate Diet could 
be established. Poland and Belgium might even re- 
main kingdoms with Prussian princes on the throne. 

" But though the conquered territories will have no 
voice in the Imperial legislation, they will, of course, 
have to submit to conscription. The young Pole from 
Warsaw will serve his three years in Hanover, Diis- 
seldorf, or Cologne. The Frenchman from Calais or 
Rheims will be sent to Breslau or Posen. The Russians 
of the Baltic provinces, like the young conscripts from 
Belgium, will enjoy their military training in Bavaria 
or Saxony. But the great fortresses, such as Calais, 
Belfort, Warsaw, or Riga, will be garrisoned by none 
save the old Prussian regiments." 

About their fleet — why did it not come out and fight 
the British? Why didn't the British fleet come and 



FROM EMDEN TO WILHELMSHAVEN 265 

" dig them out," as Churchill threatened to do ? Yes, 
they would come out and fight, but they would choose 
their own time — not when the British wanted them to. 
" So far, our fleet has paid us very well, and will pay 
us in future. This war is not going to be over for 
some time." Exorbitant naval taxes ? " Why, my 
friend, take a current copy of our ' Statisches Jahr- 
buch,' and find out how much the German nation is 
paying for what our enemies describe as our ' luxury.' 
About seven marks a year per capita is the average 
for the last four years. That amounts to a third of 
what England demands of her subjects." 

These are a few examples of their conversation, and 
by no means the most extravagant. But they talked 
well, and I think they quite believed what they said. 
I knew how utterly useless it would be to try to argue 
with them. Besides, I wanted to have a look at the 
harbour and dockyards next morning, so I deemed 
discretion the better part of valour. One is not in 
Wilhelmshaven every day, in these times ! 

Captain-Lieutenant Hersing, whom I mentioned 
above, had not reached his most dazzling height of 
fame when I met him. It was in the pre-Lusitania 
days. Still, he had already earned the Iron Cross, 
second and first class. With the U 21, one of the 
smaller submarines, he had sunk what he described as 
the British " cruiser," Path^nder. Besides, he had 
been active for a short spell in the Irish Sea, where 
he sank the Bencruachan and one or two other ships. 
The names of all his victims — I refer to the ships — 
were neatly engraved on a silver cigarette-case which 
he showed me, with the dates behind and a facsimile 
small Iron Cross in the corner. After sinking the 
Lusitania, he was the most popular naval officer in 
Germany. His friends declared that he received more 



266 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

love-letters, more proposals, love-parcels, flowers and 
photographs, than the most popular actor or actress 
ever dreamt of. Hersing told me that there was but 
one serious risk in his job; that was the British de- 
stroyers : 

" Those ' beasts of prey ' are on you before you can 
say ' knife ' ! They patrol usually in sixes or twelves, 
and it has become essential for us to show ourselves as 
little as possible on the surface. Up till now we have 
carried out this campaign in as much of a sporting 
spirit as possible ; but since several of our U boats have 
been lost, as a result of their too lenient treatment of 
the enemy, that is going to be stopped. It's all very 
well to try to be humane, even in war-time, but not at 
the price of suicide. The recent destruction of the U 8 
and the U 12 are cases in point. Our instructions 
now are, that on no account must we risk the safety of 
our boat, to say nothing of our own necks, for the 
sake of saving the crews of captured ships. Was it 
not their own naval chief. Lord Fisher, who said: 
* Moderation in war is nonsense ' ? Take the case of 
Captain Hansen" (commander of the U 16). "He 
refrained from torpedoing a French steamer off the 
harbour of Cherbourg because he noticed several women 
and children on board, and afterwards escaped, by the 
breadth of a hair, being rammed by that very vessel. 
Oh, we Germans are too easy, too sentimental, too 
tender-hearted, and oiir enemies take advantage of that 
weakness every time." 

After dinner a naval officer came in, limping on a 
stick. He was formally presented to me as one of 
the survivors of the Mainz, which was sunk in the 
North Sea early in the war. His experiences had been 
quite interesting, so I was told. When he regained 
consciousness he thought, of course, that he was a 



FROM EMDEN TO WILHELMSHAVEN 26T 

prisoner in England. So he racked his brain for every 
possible vile English curse-word he could think of to 
throw at his attendants. His English vocabulary was 
said to be extensive, and he rattled the unflattering 
epithets off one after another. Strange to say, instead 
of becoming furious, his attendants all began to laugh, 
and they "laughed in German." (Englishmen cannot 
really laugh properly, they only grin, on account of 
their eternal pipe!) Oh, what joy, when he discovered 
that he was not in the enemies' hands, but at home, in the 
dear old Vaterland! He was so overcome that he 
swooned again. But his cup of happiness was mixed 
with many bitter tears at the thought of his ship, the 
poor old Mainz, his " Iron Home," now at the bottom 
of the North Sea! The tears almost welled into his 
eyes when he retold the story of this glorious escape. 

Then there was the commander of the old torpedo- 
boat S 5. He, too, was famous. Had not his nutshell 
of six hundred tons earned, in the Doggerbank affair, 
the great distinction of having drawn the fire of the 
largest calibre British guns, while trying to save some 
of the crew of the sinking Blucher? Oh, it was not 
really as difficult as one would think, to avoid those 
big fellows. You see, when you saw the water spout 
up on your left, why you simply turned off to the 
right, and when you heard or saw the shell strike the 
water on your right, well, yon merely steered to port. 
He, too, was one of the official eye-witnesses of the 
sinking of the Tiger! 

Captain Hansen, who was also present on this occa- 
sion, had been living in England till a few days before 
the outbreak of the war. He related a brilliant bit of 
German humour. While basking in the sun, on the 
deck of his large new submarine, somewhere off the 
coast of England, one of his men appeared from the 



268 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

conning-tower, carrying a large box. He was about to 
chuck the thing overboard, when he (the Commander) 
stopped him, and asked what was in the box. " Just 
a ' Liebesgabe ' (Love-gift), Herr Capitan." "Now 
what do you think was in that box, and to whom do 
you imagine it was addressed? " Hansen asked his 
audience. After everybody had " given it up," he con- 
tinued slowly : " The box contained the old bones of 
the previous day's meals, and it was addressed to ' Herr 
Edward Grey, London.' " If universal hilarity and 
applause is any criterion, the joke was hugely appre- 
ciated by the captain's colleagues. 

A few days previous to my visit the Lutzow, one 
of the new 28,000-ton super-Dreadnoughts (sunk on 
May 31st) had been completed and commissioned. I 
was told that the eight original 12-inch guns had been 
supplanted by ordnance of 15-inch calibre. Each pro- 
jectile of these guns is five feet high and weighs over 
1,600 lbs. Their range is supposed to be twenty-two 
miles. At point-blank range they can pierce a steel 
armour-plate four feet thick. It is claimed that no 
gun in the British navy is capable of such a feat. 

No wonder that my brain was in a whirl when I left 
the Casino ! It certainly had been a strenuous eve- 
ning. Nevertheless, I spoke the truth when, on taking 
leave of my hosts, I assured them that I had spent a 
most interesting, entertaining and instructive soiree. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

WILHELMSHAVEN 

WE walked back from llie Casino to the Coal 
Harbour. Although it was after midnight, the 
place was bristling with activity. Everything was 
prodigiously lighted up, and from the imperial ship- , 
building yard close by came the sounds of hammering, 
mixed with a confused din of voices, steam-engines, and 
the murmurings of the sea. The air was alive, charged 
with electricity. You felt that here you were at the 
heart of things, listening to the pulse-beat of a stupen- 
dous machine, at the seat of history in the making. 

It is perhaps not generally known that the territory 
of Wilhelmshaven is part of the Grand Duchy of Olden- 
burg. In 1853, when Prussia laid the foundations of 
what is now the German Navy, she bought about four 
square miles from the Grand Duke. The construction 
of the harbour works was not begun until 1855, and was 
completed in 1869. Seven years after that, in 1876, 
the last German ship was launched from a foreign yard. 
Henceforth Germany was going to be her own builder. 

Many improvements and additions have been made 
since those early days. Wilhelmshaven now contains 
five distinct harbours and basins, connected with each 
other by a system of locks and canals. The " Build- 
ing " harbour, surrounded by the Imperial Dockyards, 
measures about 1,300 by 1,100 feet. It contains seven 
dry-docks and four slips (not, as I have seen quoted in 
last year's British reference books, four dry-docks and 
two slips). The dry-docks vary in length from 380 to 
620 feet — i.e., long enough for the largest battleships. 

269 



270 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

The recently completed " Ausriistungshafen " borders 
on the Imperial Dockyards. It is well over 3,000 feet 
in length and over 600 feet wide. As the name indi- 
cates, it is here that the ships are fitted out. When my 
friend and I walked round this place, I found it the 
most interesting part of all. This harbour is sur- 
rounded by warehouses, in which everything, that is 
needed on a ship is stored up in large quantities. I 
passed through building after building filled with 
clothes, foodstuffs, machinery, spare guns, rifles, Davis 
torpedoes costing $2500 apiece, compasses, field-glasses, 
etc. There were also buildings containing spare parts, 
several of each kind, for every ship of the North Sea 
Division. They were arranged in compartments, each 
of them labelled with the name of the ship to which it 
belonged. There was a thoroughness, a system about 
it, which was nothing short of marvellous. 

The three entrances to Wilhelmshaven, with their 
large locks, are protected by long, massive moles. En- 
trance No. 3 — the northern and most recent one — 
consists of two large locks, which in case of necessity 
can serve as dry-docks. The whole place is one vast 
complex of dry-docks, machine shops, boiler factories, 
iron foundries, etc. The yard is surrounded on the 
land side by a huge stone Avail, with entrances only 
through fourteen strong iron gates. On the water side 
it is protected by earthen ramparts eighteen to twenty 
feet high, strengthened at regular intervals by gun 
embrasures, armed with heavy calibre ordnance. Fi- 
nally, the whole is surrounded by a ring of outer* 
forts of modern construction (see map). A railroad 
line seems to touch almost every point, every dock, 
every warehouse. Everywhere I saw huge cranes, most 
of them of sufficient power to lift a battleship's turret, 
or one of the new 15-inch guns, or a pinnace, as easily 



WILHELMSHAVEN 271 

as if it were a bale of cotton. Northwest of the parade 
grounds are two enormous Zeppelin sheds, each with 
room for two Zeppelins. One of the buildings is of a 
movable type. Its framework is built entirely of steel 
and iron, and is supported by four large trucks, mov- 
ing on a circular railroad, which enables the airship 
to start in any direction. Electric motors, attached 
to the trucks, supply the motive power. 

The location of the Ammunition Magazines greatly 
surprised me. Though they were placed well back 
from every other building, they were surrounded by 
conspicuous landmarks. In the first place, the peculiar 
shape of the Fitting-Out Harbour makes it easy to 
locate it. The magazines are immediately north of 
this basin. The barracks are on the south side. Im- 
mediately west are the Zeppelin sheds, and hardly an 
eighth of a mile north stands the Naval Observatory. 
But most surprising of all is the arrangement of the 
railroad tracks. They go as far as the magazines, 
and there make a loop through the very centre of the 
buildings. What a place to bomb! It seems surpris- 
ing that no air attacks have been made on Wilhelms- 
haven. Any one, after having studied the map of the 
station for half an hour, could hardly miss those 
arsenals. But I was told that the Krupp anti-aircraft 
guns, placed at all important points along the coast, 
are so formidable that an air attack is a practical 
impossibility. 

In the Fitting-Out Harbour we saw several battle- 
ships of the Kaiser class, and a number of protected 
cruisers. The Prinz Albrecht, Bismarck and Seydlitz 
I noticed amongst them. The yards include six float- 
ing docks, two of them of 40,000 tons. The only rea- 
son, I was told, why Germany has hitherto taken three 
years to build its large ships is because the costs have 



27^ BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

been divided over that period, while in England they are 
distributed over only two. My doctor friend assured 
me, and I am inclined to believe him, that Germany can 
to-day complete the largest battleships within two 
years. 

My walk round Wilhelmshaven did not make me feel 
that I was attending the last convulsions of an empire. 
Work, Will and Efficiency seemed to be in the very air, 
staring, shouting at you at every turn. Though the 
army is mobilised up to the last " Landsturm " man, 
and though boys of fourteen and fifteen are already 
being drilled, Germany has not taken a single workman 
away from her ship-building yards. I have seen and 
copied the authentic figures, stating the number of men 
employed at the various Government and private yards. 
They total over 33,000 at the three Government yards 
at Wilhelmshaven, Kiel and Danzig, and over 57,000 
at the different private yards in Kiel, Hamburg, Dan- 
zig and Bremen. That is over 90,000 men; and the 
yards are running twenty-four hours a day. Germany 
is making a hard and desperate bid for recognition of 
her fleet. If the fighting qualities of the latter are 
as great, indeed anywhere near as perfect, as the organ- 
isation of her great naval base, it will prove a for- 
midable opponent. Grand- Admiral von Koester's fa- 
vourite advice to his subordinates is : " Remember the 
day has twenty-four hours, and if you will find that 
is not enough — well, then, take part of the night as 
well." 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

WILHELMSHAVEN TO CUXHAVEN 

BY the time I returned on board the little steamer, 
a few more documents had been added to an al- 
ready voluminous parcel of red, green, blue, yellow and 
white sheets. All had to be stamped and signed and 
sworn to ; and about noon we not only had permission, 
but strict orders as well, to " clear out." Passing 
underneath the new Kaiser Wilhelm bridge, we reached 
the main part of the New Harbour. Thence, through 
the southern and westernmost exit (No. 1), we ulti- 
mately reached Jade Bay. On leaving the last lock 
we shipped one of the Weser district pilots, who was 
to see us as far as Wangeroog, and not only steer us 
through the narrow winding channels between the sand- 
banks, but through many devious zig-zag paths of the 
mine-fields as well. As we passed the main entrance 
to Wilhelmshaven the U 11 came in. She was greeted 
by hurrahs and the sirens of ships close by, so I con- 
cluded that the crew had covered themselves with some 
further " glory." 

In thoroughness the Germans can give any other 
nation twelve months' start, and still easily overtake it 
in the next two. I don't think that an English salmon 
of any self-respecting weight would succeed in slipping 
through the sentinels guarding the entrances to the 
Jade, Weser and Elbe mouths. We had hardly been 
out in the bay half an hour, when a patrol boat came 
alongside. " Your papers, if you please," demanded 
a very grimy, but important-looking young naval offi- 
cer. " Every hand on deck, if you please," was the 

273 



274. BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

next order. Every one of us was thoroughly examined, 
scrutinised, and asked whether he spoke English, 
whether he had ever served in any army or navy, and 
which, whether he had any relations in England, in 
France, in Belgium, in Italy. The officer must have 
liked our society, for he stayed and stayed, and finally 
decided to see us safely out. His old-fashioned tor- 
pedo-boat was to follow. Slowly we wound our way 
down Jade Bay, half a dozen signal pennants flowing 
from our mainmast. Wherever one looked one could 
not evade the watching eyes of the coast batteries, the 
muzzles of which seemed to warn you threateningly to 
" behave yourself." About two o'clock we reached the 
Schillighorn Lighthouse, or what used to be there, but 
is no longer. 

If we thought we should have clear sailing now, we 
were deceived. Another torpedo-boat, of less prehis- 
toric design, came flying towards us. Our guest — or 
was he our host ? — became all in a flutter, like a 
debutante at her first presentation. Soon another offi- 
cer, with a little more gold braid round his cuffs, came 
to pay his respects. Then followed a heel-clicking on 
the part of our first visitor, and a quick-fire of German, 
which I suppose was a report, but which sounded more 
like ten lines of typewritten matter with the punctua- 
tion and the spacing between the words left out. I 
pride myself on a thorough knowledge of the German 
language, but may I be hanged if I could make out 
more than the " Melde gehorsamst " ("Report most 
obediently"). The superior grunted something about 
going to see for himself. He did. The whole per- 
formance — search, examination of crew, cross-ques- 
tioning, and thought X-raying — started over again. 
It looked as if we were going to spend another night 
in Jade Bay. 



WILHELMSHAVEN TO CUXHAVEN 275 

We were eventually allowed to proceed, and got as 
far as Wangeroog that day (it was then about four), 
having completed, since 11a. m. that morning, about 
twenty-eight miles. Needless to say, we could not be 
trusted in the dark, certainly not near such an impor-» 
tant station as Wangeroog. We might slip across the 
island that night and steal one of the 12-inch guns ! 
Four sailors and a petty officer, carrying their bread, 
sausages and beer, came to look after us. Next morn- 
ing another young naval lieutenant introduced himself 
— it was about 6 a. m. No, thank you ; he had break- 
fasted already. He made certain that his colleagues 
had overlooked no errors in the bill of lading, the list 
of the crew, and half a dozen other manifests ; and 
after another thorough scrutiny of the ensemble, de- 
parted with his men and the remnants of their pro- 
visions, which had polluted the air of our not over- 
ventilated little cabin. 

We passed the Roter Sand Lighthouse that should 
be, but was no more, and actually had paddled along 
six or eight knots unassisted before we were held up 
again. " Stop at once," was the signal from another 
torpedo-boat that might have served as an escort to 
Noah's Ark. Of course, it was the same rigmarole all 
over again. " Hadn't you better take a pilot along.'* " 
inquired the naval officer of the skipper. The latter, 
having made the journey for the last ten years, week 
after week, knew the channels as well as any pilot; 
still, mines might have shifted during the night, so he 
might as well transfer the responsibility of the vessel 
to a German pilot. Up went our flag bordered with 
white, and a large sailing vessel, which had been lying 
inshore, made for us. The weather out there was very 
dirty. We had to manoeuvre our ship round several 
times, in order to make a lee for the little yawl bringing 



276 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

the pilot. After he had come on board we had peace 
for a few hours. Nothing to worry us but a stiff 
northwest gale, that tried hard to blow us on one of 
the many sandbanks, and every few minutes a wave 
that drove everything loose on deck before it. One of 
the stokers was a new hand, and this was his first taste 
of the North Sea. How sorry I felt for the poor devil. 
For several hours he stood on deck frantically holding 
on to the railings to avoid being washed off. Every 
once in a while he would bravely descend, but only for 
a very few minutes. He ended up by having himself 
tied to the lee rail, and he stayed there till we reached 
calmer waters. 

We gave the treacherous Scharhorn a wide berth, 
and then turned east towards the Elbe mouth and 
Cuxhaven, where they began to worry us again. A 
patrol boat waved its welcome to us, and subsequently 
gave us a lead, while four of her crew under a junior 
officer searched us. The process of examination was 
repeated a few more times, but at last we reached Cux- 
haven, where we were to put up for the night. 

We had accomplished over forty-two miles that day. 
A record ! It was still early — about 4 p. m. It 
would be high tide for another two hours. " Could 
we not go on to Brunsbiittel? " (a distance of about 
sixteen miles) we inquired. "What, approach the 
Canal at dusk? Were we mad? Did we want to com- 
mit suicide?" They certainly were much concerned 
about our safety. Of course, we had to take lodgers 
again for the night — six of them this time. They 
made themselves quite at home in our one and only 
cabin. Still, they contented themselves with one side, 
leaving the opposite seat for the captain, the mate and 
myself. The seat was not built to accommodate six 
stout Germans, and it was extremely amusing, and 



WILHELMSHAVEN TO CUXHAVEN 277 

made up for many annoyances of the day, to see those 
six creatures trying to hang on to whatever part of 
the bench they could squeeze into. When I tell you 
that it only gave the three of us just elbow-room, and 
that the Germans were dressed in top-coats, with belts, 
bayonets, cartridge pouches, etc., you may better 
imagine than I can describe the amount of comfort they 
enjoyed. Whenever one of them wanted to get at his 
provisions, he had to stand up, and his place, like a 
hole in dry sand, filled up at once. 

One of them had a little terrier with him. I liked 
him — the dog, I mean — and, when I heard its pa- 
thetic story, I took it literally to my heart. It had 
to answer to a name that sounded like Ooleel, but was 
meant to stand for " U " and " Lille." The dog was 
a trophy brought home by a relative of the present 
owner, who, serving on a submarine, had rescued him 
from the torpedoed VUle de Lille. Poor U-Lille had 
not heard his native tongue for a long time, and, when 
I addressed him in French, he pricked up his ears, 
stood on his hind legs, and put his little head on my 
knee, while his brown eyes looked wistfully at me, as 
if he wanted to say : " Take me away from these Huns, 
take me back to my master." 

But to return to his present master and his com- 
panions. " Seen any Britishers hanging round here 
lately?" I inquired. "Ugh!" grunted the fattest of 
the lot, while cutting his sausages into inch-thick slices, 
with a pocket-knife large enough for a chef cook; 
" there isn't the smell of a Britisher left on the North 
Sea." "Well, that's cheerful," I replied. "You 
couldn't say the same about Germans — eh?" It 
passed by most of them, except a little dark man with 
narrow slits in his head, where the eyes are supposed to 
be. He looked quizzingly at me and slowly remarked: 



a78 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

" You don't seem to like the ' German smell,' eh ? " " I 
don't mind it," I answered indifferently, but added in 
the next breath, " on the North Sea ! " One of the 
younger fellows was addressed and referred to as " Pro- 
fessor." In normal times he was swaying a school- 
master's baton in some small Frisian village near 
Emden. He was quite eager to show his prowess and 
maintain his reputation as a " Gelehter " among his 
fellow-soldiers. The old inquiry was made : " Why 
don't you people go out and see whether you can't 
teach the British a good lesson? " "Ah, no, sir, not 
yet, not yet," said the Professor, shaking his thin but 
sausage-fatted finger, while gripping with the other 
hand six inches of the said delicacy. " Have you ever 
heard of the Hellenic wars? " he asked. His colleagues 
had evidently heard the story before. " You have ? 
Good! Now you may remember in one of those wars 
there was a famous Roman General. His name? Oh, 
what matter? It might have been Schmidt. He was 
a brave General, but his army was numerically — mind 
you, I am only saying * numerically ' — far inferior to 
that of the enemy. What did our General do? Go 
and run after his adversary and say, ' Please annihilate 
me?' No, sir; he had a greater duty to perform 
to the Roman Empire. He chose an advantageous 
part of the country, a mountain, in fact, and there 
entrenched himself. Now, you see, so long as he re- 
mained there, he had a decided advantage over the 
enemy, in case the latter could be enticed to attack 
him. But the Hellenic General was not born yester- 
day, either. He knew all the advantages and the mer- 
its of his Roman opponent, and refused to be trapped. 
Instead, he tried to taunt his adversary into coming 
down. He sent a message to the Roman General by 
one of his prisoners, asking, if he really were the famous 



WILHELMSHAVEN TO CUXHAVEN 279 

General he was supposed to be, why he didn't come 
down and fight? The Roman General's reply was that 
if the adversary was as great a General as he claimed 
to be, he should make him come down and fight." 

Appropriate pause for applause and admiration. 
" So, you see, there you are." " Yes, there you are," 
echoed the five brothers-in-arms in chorus. " With a 
slight modification," their spokesman continued, " the 
present situation between England and Germany, 
strategically speaking, is analogous. We say, like the 
Roman General, if the British fleet is so superior to 
ours, why don't they make us come out and fight.'' " 
" Yes, why don't they ? " echoed the chorus again. 

The Professor continued his harangue for a consider- 
able time, but it soon lost its initial freshness ; and 
when his comrades, with the exception of the sentry on 
deck, one after the other nodded off to sleep, some with 
their heads on their arms on the table, others against 
the side-posts or the back of the seat, with or without 
accompaniment, the orator soon became his own (and 
sole) audience. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 

CUXHAVEN TO KIEL. THE CANAL 

HIGH tide was about 6 a. m., so we had to be ready 
by five. Our six non-paying guests left us, and a 
Hamburg river-pilot with two sailors took their places. 
About 5 :30 a. m. we were on our way for the last lap 
before reaching the Canal, a distance of about sixteen 
miles. After skirting the Medem Sand, we had a clear 
channel of six fathoms, and bore east by northeast to 
Brunsbiittel. Half-way down we were flagged again, 
this time by a torpedo-boat that looked most business- 
like. A hasty inspection was made, and then we were 
told to continue with all possible speed to Brunsbiittel, 
as part of the German fleet was at our heels. No ships 
of any description would be allowed anywhere near. 

We stoked up the old Fannie (that wasn't her real 
name) till she fairly foamed at the mouth, and reached 
the harbour at the western entrance of the Canal before 
eight. Here we joined a number of other small craft, 
and were told that we should have to wait till the 
fleet had passed. The Brunsbiittel entrance of the 
Canal has two long moles built out into the Elbe for a 
length of from 1,200 to 1,500 feet, while the width 
of the entrance must be quite 2,800 feet, if not more. 

Who said the German fleet was inactive? Ask the 
employes of the Kiel Canal locks at Holtenau and 
Brunsbiittel. They'll tell you a diff^erent story. Ask 
them how often they have to stand by, night and day, 
and labour at their jobs, passing the fleet in and out. 
Ask the coastguards of the lighthouse at Biilk on the 
Kiel Bay. They will tell you of the interesting evolu- 

280 



CUXHAVEN TO KIEL. THE CANAL 281 

tions of the German Navy, under the watching eyes and 
protecting muzzles of the coastal batteries. 

Evidently, however, the fleet was not as close to us 
as the torpedo-boat commander had tried to make us 
believe. We had plenty of time for reflection and for 
admiration of the wonderful new locks. I was fortu- 
nate enough to get an opportunity to go on land. The 
captain charged me with the delivery of a stack of 
documents at the office of the port. It goes without 
saying that I was properly chaperoned. Two sailors 
with loaded rifles and bayonets marched one on each side 
of me. " What's all the excitement about? " I inquired 
innocently of my two guardian angels. They replied 
almost simultaneously, and with that peculiar inflexion 
in the voice which ordinary mortals only use when 
speaking about something spiritual : " Zu Befehl. 
Flotte macht gross INIanover " ("At your orders, sir. 
The fleet is going through grand manoeuvres"). No, 
kind reader, they did not smile ; there was not even 
the suspicion of a twinkle in their eyes. Oh, these 
Germans ! they have little enough sense of humour at 
the best of times ; but when it comes to matters con- 
cerning their fleet, they refuse to see anything but 
dead serious business. Grand manoeuvres in war-time! 
Shades of Nelson! What next? I thought. Grand 
manoeuvres in a canal! Indeed, here was an object- 
lesson for those croakers in England who ask : " What 
is our fleet doing? " No better illustration of 
" Britannia rules the Waves " did I ever see or have 
seen since, than on that murky spring day last year 
in the mouth of the Elbe. 

Later, at the Port Office, I asked an oflScial what was 
the object of these manoeuvres? Why didn't they 
practise outside, in the Baltic, or — Hm ! — in the 
North Sea? Oh! that was a very simple matter. 



282 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

They are trying several times a month to reduce the 
record of the passage time through the Canal. Did 
I realise that their biggest ships could now pass 
through the Canal, from Wik to Brunsbiittel, in a 
fraction under six hours ? I agreed with him, of course, 
that such a performance was indeed marvellous. And 
the riddle suggested itself to me — but I did not voice 
it — " If a German Dreadnought can race through the 
sixty miles of the Canal, including two locks, in less 
than six hours, how fast could it get out of the way 
with a British battleship at its heels?" 

But to return to my intercourse with the official. 

" Had I been in Germany long? " Oh, I knew Ger- 
many very well; in fact, I had spent some of the most 
profitable — educationally speaking — days of my life 
in Germany. And I had been so fortunate as always 
to encounter only the cultured type of German. " Ah ! 
hum! what boat did I come on? Oh, yes, quite so — 
the Fannie." Well, we should have ample time before 
our papers could be cleared. Would I like a walk 
with him? We might be able to see some of the ships 
at close quarters ; and, anyhow, the new locks were 
quite worth a closer inspection. " Well, to be sure, 
that was most kind of him. Of course, it would be 
most interesting to be able to teU my friends in Neu- 
tralia that the German fleet was in first-class fighting 
trim ; but I could not dream of wasting his valuable 
time." " Oh, not at all ! It would be a great pleas- 
ure. You know, so few foreigners really understand 
the German people. We are so peace-loving, so indus- 
trious ; but, by Jupiter ! don't pull the eagle's feathers, 
for then his wrath will punish those who dare to attack 
his nest and young. But come along." With a very 
superior air and a wave of his right hand, he dismissed 
my two chaperons, who clicked their heels, saluted and 




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CUXHAVEN TO KIEL. THE CANAL 283 

murmured, " Zu Befehl," while we started towards the 
giant locks. 

The visit was well worth while. Figures and sta- 
tistics are tedious at best, still I must fall back upon 
them for a moment, in order to give some idea of the 
colossal dimensions of the Kiel Canal. The new locks, 
which were completed shortly before the war, have been 
built alongside the two old ones. According to the 
official figures they are 1,075 feet long, 157 feet wide 
and 4<5 feet deep. In other words, they are 80 feet 
longer, 50 feet wider and 5 feet deeper than those of 
the Panama Canal. They are large enough to hold 
eventually a 60,000-ton ship, which is the dream of 
Herr Ballin. It follows that the largest battleships 
can easily pass through. The Canal itself is 98.65 km. 
(i.e., about 61 miles) long. It is 144 feet wide at the 
bottom and 332 feet wide on the surface. The cost 
of building and improvements amounts to over 
$100,000,000. Apart from its great strategical value, 
it saves ships from going from the Baltic to the North 
Sea, or vice versa, a distance of 450 miles (80 as 
against 530 miles). 

About nine o'clock the champions of Germany's fu- 
ture were sighted. The battleship Helgoland was 
leading, and she certainly cut through the water in 
great style. With a distance of about a thousand feet 
between them, seven other large ships followed. Two 
torpedo-boat flotillas {i.e., twenty-two boats) accom- 
panied them. Behind the Helgoland came the Thilrvn- 
gen; then the Oldenburg, followed by the Ostfriesland, 
the flagship of the Helgoland class. Behind them, 
again, came some old acquaintances, viz., the ships of 
the Kaiser class, consisting of the Kaiser, the Konig 
Albert and the Friedrich der Grosse, the flagship. 
The famous battle-cruiser Moltke brought up the rear. 



284 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

The huge gates of all the four locks were open as 
soon as the warships appeared before them ; and, with- 
out the delay of a second, the first four battleships were 
berthed inside. Everything worked with clock-like 
precision. The Helgoland and her sister-ships fairly 
bristled with guns. She carried twelve 12-inch guns, 
with a QQ per cent, capacity to each broadside. Sur- 
rounding the big ones, and (it seemed) at every avail- 
able spot, were the lighter calibre guns, the 5.9 and 
3.4-inch, of which she carried fourteen each. There 
seemed to be as many gun barrels as quills on a porcu- 
pine's back. 

I do not recall exactly how long it took those eight 
ships and their escorts — using all four locks — to 
pass from the Elbe into the Canal ; but I am certain it 
was less than twenty minutes from beginning to end. 
" Well," inquired my official escort, " Germany's cause 
is not lost yet, eh? with such ' Prachtkerle ' " (mag- 
nificent fellows) " to stand guard over us." But some- 
how my enthusiasm had subsided. It was a magnificent 
sight, yet it seemed sad. It was wonderful, yet I could 
not draw any inspiration from it. Again and again 
there came leaping back to my mind the solemn, con- 
fident answer of those two simple sailors : " Grosse 
Manover " ; and, try as I would, I could not see in the 
whole performance anything else but a practical demon- 
stration of England's sea power. These splendid ships 
deserved a better fate than " Grand Manoeuvres " in a 
canal ! 

When I returned on board the captain seemed sur- 
prised and at the same time relieved to see me back. 

" Where the have you been? " he asked. " This 

is the first time I know that any non-German ever 
spent so much time on land. We began to think you 
had been arrested. It does not take much, you know, 



CUXHAVEN TO KIEL. THE CANAL 285 

in this part of the world in these days, to be locked 
up. A careless question, one yard off the straight and 
narrow path, and you're in for it." While I had been 
well entertained on shore, they had had the usual per- 
formance on board. Every corner had been searched 
and examined by a staff of experts. The engines, too, 
were tested, to avoid a possible breakdown in the Canal. 
What were they searching for in these ships of legiti- 
mate traders attached to the German fleet.? " Dyna- 
mite, sir, This is our war (so they say!). We are 
fighting for our existence, and we are not going to 
take anybody's word for anything. We make sure." 

We were not allowed to follow in the wake of the 
proud Armada, but had to wait for further orders. 
The surprise of the day was yet in store for me. About 
noon my friend the harbour official came to our boat 
and invited me once again to go for a little walk. As 
we reached the docks, I could see in the distance the 
smoking funnels of a number of warships. " What 
ships are those.'*" I asked. "The same you saw this 
morning," my cicerone replied; and when I exclaimed: 
" But they arc coming towards us," I am sure he was 
the proudest man in Germany that day. " Yes, that's 
just it. That is what I wanted to show you. When 
they were about ten miles up the Canal they received sud- 
den orders to turn about. They continued a distance 
of from one to two miles — according to the position 
of the squadron — to the next turning-basin, swung 
round, and here they are again." And, indeed, there 
they came, in the order in which they had passed in. 

Since the enlargements and improvements of the 
Canal, it has four turning-basins at different points, 
each with a minimum width at the bottom of nearly a 
thousand feet. They are for the use of the fleet only. 
Ordinary vessels, once they are in the Canal, must con- 



286 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

tinue in the same direction. These improvements were 
only completed in June, 1914. A British squadron, 
under Admiral Sir George Warrender, attended the 
opening festivities, and part of it passed through the 
Canal at that time. It consisted of the cruisers 
Birmingham, Southampton and Nottingham, and the 
Dreadnoughts King George V., the Audacious, the 
Centurion and Ajax. The cruisers returned to Eng- 
land through the Canal, but, for some reason or other, 
Sir George, though offered the hospitality of the new 
waterway, preferred to take his large battleships back 
by the long route round the Skager Rak. How far, 
far off those days seem now ! In addition to the turn- 
ing-basins there are eleven sidings (formerly eight). 
All the bridges have been rebuilt, so that most of them 
are now between 100 and 150 feet above the surface. 

It was nearly one o'clock before we finally made our 
entrance into the Canal, The huge gaping mouths of 
the " small " locks (nearly 400 feet long) swallowed us 
up, and ten minutes later we were inside. Together 
with the other small craft, the number of which by now 
had increased to seventeen, led by one naval tug and 
followed by another, our procession started at a fair 
pace on its sixty-one-mile journey through the most 
jealously-guarded stretch of waterway in the world. 
Once on the way our progress was fairly rapid. I 
think we made our eight to nine knots easily. At 
Taterpfahl, about four miles beyond the locks, we 
passed underneath the first railroad bridge, a magnifi- 
cent structure, standing weU over 140 feet above the 
level of the Canal. I noticed how very sparsely and 
compactly it seems to have been built. You might 
blow it up, but unless there happened to be a train 
on it at the time, the debris could be picked up and 
removed from the Canal in a very short time. The 




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CUXHAVEN TO KIEL. THE CANAL 287 

supports stood well back from the banks, and no 
amount of dynamite could blow them into the water- 
way. The stations on both sides are over a mile dis- 
tant from the Canal. 

With the exception of an isolated hill here and there, 
the surrounding country was flat, marshy, and gener- 
ally uninteresting. It reminded me of the Norfolk 
Broads on a rainy day. Now and then we could see 
in the dim distance the top of a church-spire. Both 
sides of the Canal were guarded at regular intervals 
by double sentries. Numerous military huts and sen- 
try-boxes were stationed at every mile. There must 
have been a soldier for every hundred yards. Anti-air- 
craft guns were lavishly distributed along the entire 
distance, especially on and near the bridges. At less 
than twelve miles from the entrance we reached a small 
lake, which had been dredged and deepened and now 
forms turning-basin No. 4. 

At Griinenthal, nineteen miles from the North Sea 
entrance, we passed under another magnificent fixed 
bridge, about 150 feet above the surface and with a 
span of 540 feet. I counted four large Krupp anti- 
aircraft guns on it. After passing several sidings, we 
reached Meckel Lake, another turning-basin. At 
Rendsburg, thirty-seven miles from our starting-point, 
we passed under the recently completed all-steel high- 
level railroad bridge, also some 150 feet above the 
water. Half a mile or so further on a turn-bridge 
crossed the Canal ; and I noticed a group of civilians, 
led and followed by two soldiers, crossing it. It looked 
like a transport of prisoners, but it was not. They 
were merely natives, crossing from one side of the Canal 
to the other. 

From Rendsburg the Canal follows for about eight 
miles the old course of the Eider Channel, made in 1874 



288 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEH. 

by King Christian VII. of Denmark. As complete 
darkness had overtaken us by the time we reached 
Rendsburg, we were ordered to enter a small harbour 
and make fast for the night. Nobody was allowed to 
land. Several Landsturm men were billeted on us, un- 
der command of a young Reserve Lieutenant. He was 
quite a pleasant fellow. In civilian life he was a Pro- 
fessor, and taught History at the University of Berlin. 
After having assigned his men their places and duties, 
he joined us in our cabin, and, of course, the conversa- 
tion soon drifted into the topics of the day — the war, 
their ships, their chances of success in a naval battle. 

" Why should we come out and risk the destruction 
of our fleet ? " the officer replied, in answer to my in- 
quiry on this point. " We should have much to gain 
if we won, that is true enough ; but I think the disaster, 
in case we should lose, would be far greater." And 
he went on to explain, illustrating his discourse from 
English naval history, that so long as Germany kept 
its " Fleet in being," there was always a possibility of 
eluding the enemy's main forces, while he would be 
obliged to keep his fleet massed, so as to have a superi- 
ority in any naval engagement that might ensue. 

He was a pleasant and interesting talker, but leading 
questions he swept aside. He chose his own line of 
argument, and no amount of facts could turn him from 
it. I asked him what had become of their exports and 
their colonies? In what manner had the German fleet 
fulfilled its mission to " protect our overseas posses- 
sions," as Tirpitz expressed it, when he demanded an 
increased Naval Budget? 

Was it not one of their own great geographists, 
Friedrich Natzel, who had written hardly two years 
ago : " The oceans are only the highways. A road 
without a definite end and a goal is nothing. The be- 



CUXHAVEN TO KIEL. THE CANAL 289 

ginning of this highway, which our fleet must protect 
and bridge, lies on our shores, in our Vaterland. Our 
object, the end of the road, Hes across the seas, in 
far-off lands." 

But it takes more than mere facts to shake a Ger- 
man's colossal confidence in the ruling powers. " Wir 
werden sehen " (We shall see) was always his final 
retort. 

The country that greeted us next morning was quite 
different, and a very pleasant change from the dull, 
marshy flats of the day before. The Canal, after hav- 
ing turned east, now passed through a country of many 
small lakes, sprinkled with miniature islands. The 
surrounding hills varied in height from 50 to 300 feet, 
and were covered with pine or beech woods. At Quarn- 
beck, about ten miles from the eastern entrance to the 
Canal, we passed through Flemhuder Lake, which forms 
turning-basin No. 1. Shortly before noon we reached 
the Baltic locks at Holtenau-Wik, where we had to go 
through a new series of examinations before the neces- 
sary permits were issued. 

At this entrance the new giant locks have been built 
on the south side of the old ones, nearest to the Naval 
Barracks at " Wik." It took us the best part of two 
hours to clear and, during that time, there was no 
" kind and cultured " official to take me on a person- 
ally-conducted tour of the locks. Still, as they are 
of exactly the same type as those at the North Sea 
entrance, I did not lose much. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 

KIEL HARBOUR 

WE faced a most imposing spectable when, after 
leaving the approaches to the locks, we turned 
south, entering Kiel Harbour proper. There before us 
lay the great " Fleet in being." We passed close by 
the Lothringen, the Markgraf, the Nassau, the Wit- 
telshach, etc. Torpedo-boats, pinnaces, motor-boats, 
yawls, launches, boats of all kinds and descriptions, 
twined their way in and out between the big ships. 
The Imperial Yacht Hohenzollern showed up very con- 
spicuous in its coat of white paint, among the dark- 
grey monsters. Close by her lay the armoured cruiser 
Von der Tann, with steam up. Soon after we had 
passed her she slowly moved down the line towards the 
Baltic. " Manoeuvres," I suppose ! 

The distance from the Canal mouth to the Imperial 
Dockyards is about four miles as the crow flies. On 
our left, as we went up the harbour, we passed the 
huge shipbuilding yards of the Howaldts Works. An- 
other half-mile or so further brought us to the Imperial 
Wharf. The air reverberated with a hundred different 
noises and sounds. The electric steel-hammers from 
the dock-yards mingled with the warning notes of the 
torpedo-boat sirens. There was whistling, shouting, 
cursing. It was, as at Wilhelmshaven — bustle, activ- 
ity, life, all round. One felt surcharged with the elec- 
tricity of one's surroundings and swept away by the 
exhilarating atmosphere. 

The large battleships, all cleared for action, ap- 
peared less out of place here than those I had seen the 

290 



KIEL HARBOUR 291 

day before in the Canal. The defying angles of their 
guns, their towering walls of steel plate, the giant 
bridges and solid gun-turrets, seemed to throw a chal- 
lenge to all the world. Yet, did they? Their main 
occupation seemed to be playing hide-and-seek with 
each other in the Canal. The ships have every appear- 
ance of being most perfect fighting units. The sight 
of them warms the heart of any lover of sea-power. 
Yet, while the sister organisation, the German Army, 
on the two occasions when I have attended its manoeu- 
vres, and also during my recent trip to the Eastern 
front, where I saw it overcome almost insurmountable 
obstacles, could arouse my enthusiasm, these big, over- 
armed monsters left me cold. The more I saw of the 
German fleet, and talked to its officers and its men, 
the more I became convinced that this war is not going 
to see a naval battle fought out to the bitter end. My 
trips have proved to me that, in the widest sense of 
the term, the Germans spoke the truth when they said: 
" We are not going to take any chances with our 
fleet." 

Not the least interesting thing about Kiel is its name. 
It is one of the few places I know of that have been 
appropriately christened. The name " Kiel " appears 
as early as the tenth century, and is derived from the 
Anglo-Saxon word " Kille," which means a safe place 
for ships. As to Kiel itself, I am not going to swamp 
you with statistics. If you want to know how many 
dockyards there are in Kiel, how many ships are build- 
ing, etc., take a British Year Book giving information 
about Germany, multiply its figures by two, and you 
have a fairly accurate estimate. Though the whole 
bay is about eleven miles long, the " Kiel " begins only 
about five miles from its head, where the two shores 
approach each other to within three-quarters of a mile. 



29£ BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

The Narrows are surrounded by forts of the very latest 
construction, armed with large-calibre guns (most of 
them, it is said, 15-inch), protected by armour-plates 
of the famous Gruson steel. The most important forts 
are Friedrichsort (which protects the Baltic entrance 
of the Canal), Fort Herwarth, and Fort Falkenstein 
on the western shore. On the eastern side there are 
Forts Stosch, Koriigen, Unter-Jagersberg, Moltenort, 
and several others (see map). 

The day of my arrival in Kiel, I was invited to see 
some of the German warships in action — in Kiel Bay. 
My naval friend and another ofBcer called for me at 
my hotel in a huge grey car, with Germany's coat-of- 
arms painted all over it. The car was a German 
" Mercedes," and certainly built for speed. An orderly 
was seated next to the driver, and frequently blew a 
long horn of a peculiar but not unpleasant sound. 
Whenever the man sounded his " Ta-ri-ta-ta," man, 
woman, child and beast, within half a mile, ran for 
cover. Through the suburb of Gaarden we flew, then 
north through the People's Park, past the Imperial 
Wharf, and through Elterbeck and Wellingdorf. At 
the Howaldts Dockyards we were ferried across the 
Schwentine, and then turned northwest again to reach 
the shore-road. Just north of the Naval Artillery 
depot (ammunition magazines) we stopped, and our 
guide invited us to leave the car and follow him to a 
promontory for a view of the harbour. 

It was, indeed, well worth while. The sight was 
superb. In front of us to left, to right, wherever our 
eyes travelled, we saw nothing but warships, of all 
types and ages. On closer inspection, I noticed, first, 
four distinct lines of them, anchored near large black 
and white buoys. The naval officer explained to me 
the different anchorages. The four rows of buoys are 



KIEL HARBOUR 293 

designated respectively A, B, C and D, the letters being 
followed bj numbers beginning with zero (nearest to 
Kiel) and running up to 17 (see map). 

At the Naval College I was shown a large map of 
Kiel Harbour. 

The most interesting features of this map were the 
corrections made on it since the beginning of the war. 
The names of the ships were printed in fat black type, 
but I noticed at once a fair sprinkling of red lines and 
dates. These indicate the ships that have been lost, 
and the dates on which the losses occurred. (In the 
map, as reproduced here, the lost ships are under- 
lined. ) 

Less than a third of a mile in front of us, at A 11, 
lay the Kaiser, one of Germany's finest 25,000-ton bat- 
tleships, with a broadside of ten 12-inch guns. When 
with the fleet the Kaiser lives on her. About a thou- 
sand feet in front of her, towards the mouth of the 
harbour, at A 12, the Kaiserin was anchored. Through 
our glasses we could follow the lines north and south. 
A 10 was empty, while at A 9 the Kaiser's yacht Hohen- 
zollern was riding. Next to her, at A 8, lay the 
Friedrich der Grosse, the flagship of the fleet. Al- 
though belonging to the Kaiser class, she was placed 
well back in harbour, separated from the other ships. 
A 7 was empty, and the British Fleet knows why. Once 
it had been the safe slumbering place of the Bliicher. 
Buoy A 6 should have been occupied by the Deutsch- 
land, but she was " draussen " (outside), we were told. 
" Where.? In the North Sea or the Baltic? " I could 
not resist asking. Our guide did not know. Probably 
she was gallivanting round the North Sea, looking for 
the British that never came, aching for a scrap — like 
her late neighbour at A 7. Still further down, at No. 
1, was another ominous vacancy, viz., the Mainz buoy. 



294 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

The more one looked at those lines through one's glasses, 
the more vacancies one observed. Our guide knew 
the names of all the missing ships. What a host of 
memories were called up when he sadly pointed towards 
Buoy 5 B, once the Emden anchorage; to Buoy A 17, 
the former home of the Gneisenau. 

Besides these four rows there are two others — an 
alphabetical line, indicated by numbers only, and a 
numerical line, indicated by numbers only. In the 
alphabetical row were also one or two blanks which 
never would be filled again by their original owners, 
viz., Buoy " F," which was the old home of the little 
Hela, torpedoed in August, 1914, and at " K," the 
anchorage of the Koln, sunk in the same month. The 
" D " column had a vacancy at No. 3, where the fast 
cruiser Magdeburg will never sleep again. It was quite 
an imposing spectacle, but I must admit having been 
bloodthirsty enough to wish for a few vacancies in the 
lines. There were too many battleships left ; and, as I 
gazed at them so peacefully and safely at anchor there, 
I thought how the sight would warm the heart of any 
British submarine commander. What a place for tor- 
pedoes ! But the bottle-neck of Kiel Bay, only three- 
quarters of a mile wide, giving entrance to the real 
harbour is too well guarded. 

We continued our journey along the shore, then for 
a bit inland again, till we reached Stein, which is situ- 
ated on the northernmost point at the entrance of Kiel 
Harbour. There, before long, one or two squadrons 
of the fleet were to go through manoeuvres. From our 
vantage-point we had a full view of the lower part of 
Kiel Bay, measuring here about five miles across. It 
is the customary practice-ground for the Kiel Division 
of the German fleet. Opposite us was the Biilk Light- 
house, once the guiding beacon for all who would enter 



KIEL HARBOUR 295 

Kiel Harbour. Now its welcoming rays shine no more. 
A number of torpedo-boats were busily dashing about, 
and one could see them on outpost duty, far out in the 
Baltic. Presently out of the thin veil of the morning 
mist, and preceded by a flotilla of torpedo-boats, which, 
like a pack of hounds, sniffed to left and right, search- 
ing for their prey, there arose from the direction of 
Friedrichsort the hull of a battleship, soon followed by 
another. Gradually a whole line of them appeared 
round the point of Labo Sand. They steamed in line 
ahead at intervals of about 1,000 feet. The first two 
ships were the Kaiser and the Konig Albert. The 
Kaiserin followed; the Prmz-Regent Luitpold was the 
last of the Kaiser type in the line. The flagship Fried- 
rich der Grosse, also belonging to this class, was absent. 
Following these super-Dreadnoughts came four ships 
of the Kaiser Friedrich class. Being of only 11,000 
tons displacement, they appeared insignificant in com- 
parison with the 25,000-ton giants preceding them. 
But my interest in this class was at once aroused when 
I discovered the Kaiser WUhelm der Grosse among 
them. In 1898, when returning from a trip to Norway, 
where my father and I had been fishing, we passed 
through Kiel and found the town in great excitement. 
The Kaiser was expected there the next day for the 
launching of what was described as " the latest and 
finest German battleship," the Kaiser Wilhelm der 
Grosse. We managed to get invitations and witnessed 
the ceremony. Of course, the Kaiser made a speech. 
If I am not mistaken, it was on this occasion that he 
adopted the now classical German motto : " Unsere 
Zukunft liegt auf dem Wasser " (" Our future lies on 
the water"). The Emperor was accompanied by the 
Empress and an elderly female relative. The latter 
was to perfonn the christening, but the suspended bottle 



296 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

of champagne, set in motion by her too feeble hand, 
never reached the hull. Wilhelm quickly jumped to the 
rescue, and while pronouncing the christening formula, 
with a powerful, I think almost angry, swing, dashed 
the bottle against the ship. And now, after seventeen 
years, I met the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse once more. 
Times had changed, for her as well. Once the finest 
and largest battleship of the German Navy, " symbol- 
ising," in the Kaiser's own words, " Germany's future 
Empire of the Sea," she seemed now, compared with 
those modem super-Dreadnoughts, but a " relic of the 
past." 

I regret to say that my naval vocabulary is inade- 
quate to describe the manoeuvres those ships were put 
through, though they did not seem to be very compli- 
cated. They consisted largely of moving in line ahead, 
and then suddenly swinging to port or starboard. A 
figure, which we should call in Army parlance the 
*' echelon " formation, was also executed several times. 
The final manoeuvre was a surprise attack by torpedo- 
boats. Two flotillas (twenty-two boats), which had 
been in the fire lee of the Friedrich class, suddenly 
dashed out from behind them and advanced to within 
three thousand yards of their presumed adversaries, 
from which distance they were supposed to fire their 
torpedoes. Then, as fast as they had come, they swung 
round and returned to shelter behind their own ships. 
Several of the German officers, whom I met, claimed that 
the German torpedo-boat had reached a very high de- 
gree of efficiency. I must admit that I admired what 
I saw of their work that day and also on subsequent oc- 
casions. Though some of their evolutions might be 
described as " playing to the gallery," every manoeuvre 
was carried out quick and clean. Cutting through a 
line of battleships, going at full speed ahead, calls for 



KIEL HARBOUR 297 

a brain as quick as lightning and the greatest skill. 
Whether exercises of this kind would ever be required in 
an actual sea-fight is perhaps problematical; but they 
looked well. 



CHAPTER XXXIX 

TRAINING AND STRATEGY 

IN the course of my visit to various German naval 
bases I naturally heard and saw much of the train- 
ing of the German sailor. The drilling of the personnel 
of the German Navy, like that of her Army, is system- 
atic, almost perfect in every detail. But it has the 
usual defects of a virtue carried to extremes. The men 
are overtrained. The German is not amphibious ; he 
is not web-footed like Jack Tar. He is a soldier first 
and last ; and while both soldiers and sailors are fight- 
ing men, there are, or should be, many differences in the 
method of their training. Nevertheless, whenever I 
maintained that the German system produced only au- 
tomatons, I was emphatically assured that, even if every 
officer on board a German battleship were killed, the 
gunners would continue the fight and the ship would 
be navigated. It is a strange phenomenon that every 
naval officer with whom I have ever discussed crew 
efficiency, whether his nationality was British, Dutch, 
American, French, Italian, or Japanese, claimed this 
same perfection of training for the personnel of his own 
fleet. 

One day I witnessed a sham battle, also in Kiel Bay. 
The manoeuvre seemed to be largely a practice for each 
separate ship. For instance, a signal from the flagship 
to one of its units read : " You have a large hole amid- 
ships, three feet below the water line ; your boiler, 
No. 2, has been blown up ; captain is killed!" The 
problem of what to do in these conditions must be 

worked out by the diff^erent commanders, under the 

298 



TRAINING AND STRATEGY 299 

watching, critical eyes of a Commission of higher Naval 
Officers. Every officer is from time to time suddenly 
transferred to another department. However small or 
unimportant his command, he has several understudies. 
" Every possible contingency which might occur is prac- 
tised," so I was solemnly assured. 

It may be interesting here to quote what Rear-Ad- 
miral Holzhauer, an active officer of the German Navy, 
has to say on the subject of training: 

" No battleship crew can be called efficient until it 
has been trained and knows what to do in every possible 
contingency that could arise in an actual sea-fight. 

" There must hardly be a condition which might arise 
in war-time that has not been practised in peace ma- 
noeuvres. Only when you have reached the stage when 
there are no surprises possible, then only can you call 
your crew competent." 

But the information I received was by no means con- 
fined to German naval affairs. I learned more about 
the British Navy during those few months in Germany 
than I have in England for ten years. For instance, 
when we were talking about submarines one evening, a 
German naval officer gave me an elaborate account of 
the British boats, describing all the different classes, 
from the oldest to the newest, in great detail. If his 
statements were correct, they prove that a good deal 
of British naval information still finds its way to Ger- 
many, for I understand that the boats of the " F " 
class, and those of the Nautilus and the Swordfish types, 
have only recently been commissioned. I learned also 
of a new " crime " committed by " Perfide Albion," 
which deserves to be recorded. It is not enough that 
England will persist in keeping ahead of Germany by 
always going one better, whenever that peace-loving 
country lays down a new battleship ; she must now 



300 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

aggravate the Fatherland still more by building " sham 
Dreadnoughts." " Sham Dreadnoughts ! " I exclaimed. 
"What do you mean? Oh, you are thinking of the 
resurrected ' Tiger.' You mean ' ghost ' Dread- 
noughts? " No, they did not mean anything of the 
kind. They meant what they said — " sham Dread- 
noughts." No other words could describe them. 

England has been taking lessons from her valiant 
ally Russia. Just as Potemkin conjured up flourishing 
villages before the astonished eyes of his imperial mis- 
tress, by means of canvas and pasteboard, so the British 
Admiralty (I was informed) has created a new fleet of 
a hundred battleships, by means of canvas, wood and 
paint. At the beginning of the war England bought 
up a hundred old passenger and freight steamers. The 
holds were filled with stones and cement, the cross- 
beams strengthened, and the hulls painted a dark grey, 
just like the real thing. The addition of a wooden 
structure and turrets armed with heavy-calibre guns — 
of wood — gave them a realistic " man-of-war "-like 
appearance. Several of these wicked, illegitimate off- 
springs of the British Admiralty have been raised at 
Belfast. Many of them have already started on their 
adventurous career. Captain Haddock, formerly skip- 
per of the Olympic, is reported to have supervised the 
metamorphosis. 

" The names of some of these converted steamers are 
the Ce'vic (White Star Line), the Merion (Dominion 
Line), Orubia and Oratawa (Royal Mail Steam Packet 
Co.) and Campania (Cunard Line)." 

A friend of my informants, who were German naval 
officers, had had an opportunity to visit one of the ship- 
yards where some of these sea-terrors were being con- 
verted. He saw one ex-passenger steamer that was 
equipped with wooden 9-inch guns, and it looked really 



TRAINING AND STRATEGY 301 

terrible. While admiring these monsters, a painter, 
who with his brush and pail was adding the finishing 
touches to one of the turrets, slipped and fell. He 
landed on one of the 9-inch guns and smashed it to 
pieces. They are much puzzled in German naval cir- 
cles what possible object the British Admiralty can 
have in view with this colossal sham fleet. They could 
understand that a real " man-of-war " should disguise 
herself as an innocent merchantman as, for instance, 
the Sydney did when she surprised the " poor Emden," 
but to mask ordinary liners as battleships — well, that 
beat them. 

" Hitherto," they said, " the British have had their 
hands full in hiding their real battleships from German 
attacks. Perhaps that may be the very service these 
fake ' Dreadnoughts ' are to perform. Perhaps they 
are intended to attract our submarines and cruisers. 
Thus, the German battleships, which are so anxiously 
and eagerly scouring the seas, would be drawn away 
from the real British ' Dreadnoughts.' Those sham 
fighting ships would constitute a sort of lightning con- 
ductor for the real fleet. Or, again, some other use 
might be made of these stone and cement-filled battle- 
ships. Perhaps they are to serve for blocking impor- 
tant harbours and channels, as was done during the 
Spanish-American War, when the harbour of Santiago 
de Cuba was thus closed. Perhaps they are to advance 
against Kiel — through Danish waters? Well, be that 
as it may. The real English Dreadnoughts have not 
been able to frighten the German fleet and our sailors 
are still less likely to recoil from wooden guns. The 
British, with their stage battleships, will not delude the 
watchful administrators of the German Navy ! " 

In conclusion I may make a few remarks on the fu- 
ture plans and strategy of the German Navy. I can 



302 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

do no better than record here some of the passages in 
Admiral von Koester's lecture (which brought me to 
Kiel for the first time, as you will remember) , delivered 
at the University there, before a large and distinguished 
audience. He started by referring to the " inactivity 
of the British fleet," which at once put him right with 
his audience. The remark was greeted with overwhelm- 
ing applause. He said that, in view of the inactivity 
of the British fleet, it had become sufficiently clear that 
England intended to keep her fleet intact, in order to 
have a world-dominating naval force behind her, when 
the representatives of the various nations would meet 
to discuss peace terms. This, of course, with only one 
object in view: " To dictate the terms of peace." 

" It looks, indeed " — and the Admiral's stentorian 
voice thundered the words through the large hall — 
" as if the pedlar spirit of that nation has even con- 
taminated the traditions of their once glorious Navy. 
They do not seem to fight for fame and honour, but 
only for material advantage. Perhaps they think that 
our patriotic anxiety to measure our strength with our 
foes is so strong, that they are saying among them- 
selves : * Some day, they are certain to come out, and 
then we shall be able to fight them in an advantageous 
position.' Perhaps, too, they think more of our fight- 
ing ability than Nelson did of his opponents, in the days 
when he attacked the French and the Spanish fleets. 
That the offensive spirit of our Navy is superior to that 
of the British is proved by the fact that we have already 
attacked the British coast at several points, while no 
British ship has as yet dared to show itself near our 
shores." 

After the tremendous applause and frantic enthusi- 
asm elicited by this statement had calmed down, von 
Koester continued: 



TRAINING AND STRATEGY 303 

" Confidence in our fleet is with us all, as firm as a 
rock; but we also know that a naval battle means 
' Death or Victory,' and that a fleet destroyed cannot 
be replaced during the course of the same war, even if 
that war should last for years. It is therefore abso- 
lutely essential that we should move carefully, with the 
greatest circumspection. 

" We must not allow ourselves to be inveigled into 
an engagement in which we might possibly be beaten. 
What would be the result, if to-morrow a great naval 
battle were fought in which every one of our brave ships 
would drag one of the enemy's, perhaps a few more, 
with her to the bottom of the sea? Then we should be 
minus a fleet, and England would be free to attack our 
coast. And that no town would be spared, you may 
be certain after what we have seen in our colonies. 
Our whole coast, from Emden to Memel, would be 
threatened. Even attempts to invade our country 
might be made. Our fleet must protect us under all 
circumstances, and must only risk an engagement when 
it can be certain of victory. Unconquered on water 
and on land, so must we stand to gain for our Father- 
land an honourable peace, at which England's world- 
domination must be shattered. God grant us vic- 
tory ! " 

This, I think, is a fair sample of the kind of soothing 
potions which the German nation is being given to swal- 
low. Let me add that the medicine is taken by ninety- 
five per cent, of the population without even so much 
as a wry face. I have been asked many times since my 
return from Germany, if I thought the German fleet 
would come out. My answer can be found in von 
Koester's speech, where he says : " We must not allow 
ourselves to be inveigled into an engagement in which 
we might possibly be beaten," I think, in fact I am 



304 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

almost convinced, that the German fleet is never going 
to risk a battle in which its existence will be at stake. 
In other words, they are not likely to venture far from 
their base. That conviction has been gained from 
many conversations, inquiries, arguments and observa- 
tions among well-qualified Germans. The charge made 
by von Koester against England, viz., that she desires 
to be present at the peace negotiations with a fleet in- 
tact, applies to Germany. 



PART IV 

INTERVIEWS 



INTRODUCTION 

Journalistically speaking, the world is divided into 
two kinds of people, those who want to be interviewed, 
and those who don't. The first category are useless, 
because you rarely get anything out of them worth the 
printer's ink; the second half is the one to concentrate 
on. There is one difficulty at times, namely, to be per- 
fectly certain which is which. It is well to remember 
this, especially in Germany. 

In my chapter on the Press I have already described 
the " Made-in-Germany " interview, and some of the 
vicissitudes of neutral journalists in Berlin (see Chap- 
ter VI.). 

I consider myself very fortunate in having been able 
to obtain a certain number of entirely independent in- 
terviews with various Germans, and which are recorded 
in the following chapters. 

Some of the talks I had were grotesque ; some of them 
were ludicrous ; again, some of them I believe to have 
been absolutely genuine. 

There was the calm and genial von Gwinner; there 
were the thundering and explosive Dr. Biicher and the 
famous Major Herwarth von Bitterfeld. There was 
Herr Sassenbach, the trades-unionist, and Herr Mumm 
von Schwarzenstein, the typical, bumptious Foreign 
Office official. There was the truthful and sincere Herr 
Crass, of Krupps, and there were several — well, we will 
say, men of short memory and long imagination. 

Be that as it may, the majority of them were, at 
least to me, intensely interesting, not only from a jour- 
nalistic, but from a psychological point of view as well. 

307 



308 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

In one or two instances I have even scored off our 
formidable friend von Wiegand. I know that for the 
last two years he has been trying to interview Herr von 
Gwinner; but, in spite of all attempts, and the assist- 
ance of his journalistic godfather, Erzberger, he has 
not succeeded. He has never been able to say as much 
as " Hullo ! " to von Gwinner. The same might be said 
with regard to Herr Crass, of Krupps, Dr. Rathenau 
and Herr Sassenbach, the Social Democrat. 



CHAPTER XL 

ARTHUR VON GWINNER 

I THINK I may claim to have been the first — and 
I daresay, after all the enterprise various pro- 
British newspapermen have recently shown in Germany 
— I shall be the last foreign journalist, at least during 
the war, who has interviewed Herr Arthur von Gwin- 
ner. Managing Director of the Deutsche Bank ; Ger- 
many's greatest financial genius ; intimate friend of the 
Kaiser and the man behind the Bagdad Railroad. 

I brought Herr von Gwinner a warm letter of intro- 
duction from a mutual friend in Rome. While I knew 
that this would ensure admittance to the holy of holies 
of the severe palatial edifice of the Behrenstrasse, the 
" Deutsche Bank," I expected little more than ten to 
fifteen minutes, if that much, with the great man. 

I was very pleasantly disappointed in my estimate. 
The first time I met Herr von Gwinner we talked for 
considerably over an hour. How on earth this hap- 
pened I am absolutely at a loss to explain. From no 
one in Germany did I expect less to obtain such a long 
audience than from Herr von Gwinner. I saw him sev- 
eral times after our first meeting, but the feast was not 
repeated, at least not as regards length. Perhaps he 
had a headache that first day, and did not feel like 
work ; perhaps it was because he loves to talk French, 
and wanted to make the best of his opportunity, which 
in these times, I presume, does not occur very often. 
Whatever the reason may be I profited by it, as it gave 

309 



310 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

me nearly an hour and a half with one of Germany's 
greatest men. 

As the late Lord Redesdale says in his delightful 
memoirs, " We talked about many things and some 
others." 

But, let me begin at the beginning. 

He received me in his private office at the " Deutsche 
Bank." The first impression one gains of Herr von 
Gwinner is exceedingly disappointing. He does not 
look the part at all. One would sooner take him for a 
chemist's clerk than for the man who could dictate 
terms to any one in Germany. He is small of stature, 
wears an old shabby frock-coat, and seems to have a 
weakness for fancy waistcoat (at least, every time I 
have seen him he wore a different coloured one), and 
the flowing ties which remind you of Montraartre. The 
first impression soon makes room for a second and a 
very different one. There is nothing pompous, noth- 
ing ceremonious about Herr von Gwinner. He puts 
you at your ease at once. You make mental salti 
mortales through a succession of various impressions 
of the man, which it would take a better pen than mine 
to sort out. One moment he has the easy, infor- 
mal manner of the American business man, the slap- 
bang " How-d'ye-do-glad-to-see-you-take-a-seat-have- 
a-cigar " kind ; the next minute his manners impress 
you as those of the finished, polished man of the world. 

Herr von Gwinner reminds you of many nationalities, 
but least of all of his own, except in some of his argu- 
ments. 

He is one of the best-read men I have met ; he seems 
to take an interest, and a more than surface one, in 
Art ; he is familiar with the French and English classics, 
and discoursed on Wagner and music as if he had made 
a life study of them. 



ARTHUR VON GWINNER 311 

How on earth he has found the time to cultivate and 
follow all these hobbies, together with his most strenu- 
ous labours at the bank, is a miracle to me. With it 
all there is something extremely simple, direct and 
forceful in his personality which grows stronger the 
better you know him. He has small but very pene- 
trating eyes, and it would be well worth while to see 
him in action with an opponent of equal calibre. His 
English and French were alike perfect, almost like those 
of a native. 

" As in many other cases," Herr von Gwinner began, 
" our enemies have juggled the words in their argu- 
ment as to who started the war. It was not Germany 
that made the war, but * made in Germany ' is what 
caused it. Our commerce was growing in leaps and 
bounds ; we competed with England in every part of the 
world, and, as a rule, to her disadvantage. 

" Then all this nonsense about German militarism. 
What about English ' navalism ' ? I have heard it said 
that they are twin brothers. Perhaps ! If so, we 
should add that militarism is the hard-working, the 
intelligent brother, while navalism is the adventurer, 
the ' ne'er-do-well ' of the two. When I say ' ne'er-do- 
well,' I am using the term in its moral sense only, of 
course. From the adventurer's, the pirate's point of 
view, the British fleet has done quite well. Let us look 
at the record. One after the other, it has destroyed 
the Spanish navy, of Elizabeth's time ; the Dutch navy ; 
then the French, and, finall}', the Danish navy, which 
was rendered obsolete in 1801. And now they are try- 
ing to destroy ours. If they should succeed, do you 
know whose turn it would be next? The American 
navy. England does not tolerate any close second 
naval power in the world. Militarism, indeed ! They 



Sia BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

scoff at our ' Deutschland iiber Alles,' but what about 
their motto : ' Britannia rules the waves ' ? Is there 
room in the present age for such intolerable arrogance? 

" Do you realise that Germany is the only country 
that has not been at war for forty-four years? Every 
other European nation has. England had the atro- 
cious robber war of the Transvaal; the French have 
fought in Morocco and Madagascar ; America with 
Spain ; Russia with Japan ; Italy with Turkey, and so 
on. Our Kaiser could have found many times, espe- 
cially during the last ten years, not merely excuses, but 
good solid reasons to draw the sword, but again and 
again he gave in, preached moderation, for the benefit 
of Germany and the world in general. But there is a 
limit to all things." 

Passing on to the next subject, Herr von Gwinner 
grew somewhat excited. He rose, and in an almost 
melodramatic voice and manner exclaimed: 

" But the greatest crime of all, the most dastardly 
act in the history of the world, is England's plan to 
starve out a whole nation. Yes, a whole nation of 
women and children. Can you think of anything more 
criminal, more inhuman? Tell me, what do neutral 
countries think of that? " 

A pause in his eloquent charge gave me an oppor- 
tunity of asking : " But, Herr von Gwinner, is there 
any difference between a fortified town and a fortified 
country? What happened in Paris, for instance, dur- 
ing the Franco-Prussian war? There were many 
women and children starving to death then. Isn't Ger- 
many, after all, one great fortress?" 

But it is hard to checkmate a man of Herr von 
Gwinner's mettle. 

*' Yes, certainly there is a difference," he gravely 
replied without a moment's hesitation. " In a fortified 



ARTHUR VON GWINNER 313 

town the women and children and other non-combatants 
are given ample opportunity to leave the city. If they 
remain, they do so of their own free will and at their 
own risk. It is impossible for the women and children 
of a whole nation to leave the country. No, a thou- 
sand times No, sir, there never has been in the history 
of the world such a vile, low attempt at murder as the 
English plan of starving Germany into submission." 

Many answers and many questions ran through my 
mind. I wanted to ask about the women and children 
murdered at Hartlepool, Scarborough, Whitby, on the 
Lusitania; I wanted to inquire about the innocent 
women and children Zeppelin victims, but I was afraid 
I would stop Herr von Gwinner's flow of rhetoric. 

He continued : " But this country cannot be starved 
out, and, as our Chancellor said, * Germany can never 
be destroyed.' The English ' gentlemen ' are not going 
to turn this country into one large * concentration 
camp ' so familiar to us since the days of the Boer 
War." 

Somehow when he said, " Germany can never be de- 
stroyed," his words lacked the conviction which had 
been in most of his speech. He impressed one like a 
man fighting with his back against the wall. 

The force of his vituperative fire in denouncing Eng- 
land had soon spent itself, and presently, mopping his 
eyebrows and forehead with a coloured handkerchief, 
he sat down again and returned to the subject of mili- 
tarism. 

" What is militarism ? " he asked, and then proceeded 
to answer the question himself : *' German militarism 
is nothing else but the German spirit, love of country, 
sacrifice. Militarism is only another word for ' hero- 
ism.' It means the upholding of the manly qualities of 
courage and obedience, it represents the virtues of a 



SU BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

free people. During the last ten years our annual ex- 
penses for this ' frightful militarism ' have been about 
900 million marks" ($225,000,000), "while for social 
works alone, our expenses are over a thousand million 
marks yearly" ($250,000,000). 

Changing the subject once more, Herr von Gwinner 
spoke of conditions in the occupied territories of France 
and Belgium. " Our soldiers in France live in perfect 
harmony with the population. Our artillery horses as- 
sist the farmers in working their fields, and many French 
people have expressed the opinion that their part of 
the country was never better managed before. I had a 
letter recently from my farm superintendent, who is in 
France, and he assures me that the people with whom 
he is living are looking after him with kindness and 
willingness. He refers to them as ' Papa ' and 
' Maman.' He asked me whether I could not send them 
some pigs from my farm." 

Of course, there were frequent interruptions. Sev- 
eral times his secretary came in with a card or a memo- 
randum, and invariably the reply was " Heute nicht " 
("Not to-day"). Once or twice a clerk came in with 
isome letters for him to sign. He read them through 
slowly and carefully before affixing his signature. On 
one of them he made several corrections. Then he took 
a red pencil, drew it through the letter, and then, to 
make assurance doubly sure, tore it nearly across. Not 
a word passed between him and the employe. 

I had brought about fifty pounds in gold and asked 
Herr von Gwinner to change it for me. How his eyes 
lit up when he saw it. Oh, let me hasten to add, not 
with that ugly expression most often met at the gam- 
bling tables in Monte Carlo, etc. No, it was something 



ARTHUR VON GWINNER 315 

quite different, a great deal more pleasant. How shall 
I describe it? His face showed satisfaction, the smile 
of the connoisseur, but of the collector who collects for 
others. I think it was the smile of satisfaction of 
doing something for the Fatherland that showed in his 
face. He wrote down the amount, rang a bell, and in- 
structed the clerk to exchange the money at " best " 
rates and to bring new bills. 

There were various of these little interludes. He 
sent for and presented me with a number of annual re- 
ports of the bank ; several books written by Helfferich, 
one of them dealing with the German war loans, another 
with " Germany's Economic Progress," all of which he 
hoped I would study ; after which he assured me I would 
know a great deal more about Germany. " You will 
find," he explained, " more reliable information in those 
books than you could anywhere else." 

Looking back now upon those long talks with von 
Gwinner, it occurs to me how stupid I was not to have 
asked him to autograph one of the books he gave me. 
Von Gwinner's signature! It would have been a valu- 
able souvenir. 

To return to the first interview. 

*' Has Germany any intention of annexing the for- 
eign territory she now occupies ? " was one of my next 
questions. (How varied the answers have been to that 
oft-repeated query of mine!) 

" That is a question which cannot be answered at 
present," he slowly replied ; " but if ever in the history 
of the world a country had a right to keep what it had 
gained, I think Germany has. Every foot of territory 
she occupies has been bought with the life blood of her 
manhood. We were attacked on all sides. We not 
only made a wonderful defence, but succeeded in keep- 



316 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

ing the fighting on the enemy's ground. That is some- 
thing for which even we Germans did not dare hope. 
Whatever form it will take, territory in Europe, outside 
of it, or an indemnity, our enemies will be made to pay 
dearly for their baseless, murderous attack on our 
country." 

" And what if Germany should lose ? " 

" Then," and his words came slowly and carefully, 
while his voice once more grew grave, " if our enemies 
should have their way, and the German Empire be dis- 
integrated, the army disbanded, this country would be- 
come once more, as was the case in Napoleonic days, 
the cockpit of Europe. One war would follow another. 
The Russians would try to push further west, and Eng- 
land, with whatever Allies she might be able to gather 
round her, would be involved in a long struggle to hold 
the Cossacks back. America, too, would suffer, and the 
day will come when she may be grateful for Germany's 
support against her growing enemy — Japan." 

While always speaking in moderation, von Gwinner 
plainly showed that he was far from satisfied with Ger- 
many's system of government. He has no use for the 
average German diplomat. 

" But then, you see," he said to me one day, and his 
face was gleaming with that soft, genial smile of his, as 
if he were proud of the statement he was going to 
make, " we Germans are not diplomats. We are too 
open, too frank, too honest. Hitherto our diplomatic 
positions have been practically the sole prerogative of 
our old families, our Junker class. All this is going 
to change. The business man is gradually coming into 
his own. He is already beginning to play a far more 
active and prominent part in the political affairs of the 
nation. This war has proved that business men are 
needed just as much as Generals and Field-Marshals." 



ARTHUR VON GWINNER 317 

(Herr von Gwinner did not mention "Admirals.") 

" Look at my pupil Helfferich, Secretary of the 
Treasury to-day.^ I made him. He started here in 
my bank. Then there is Rathenau, chief of the most 
important office in Germany to-day, the Raw Material 
Department of the War Office.^ And so I could cite 
several other examples to show that a new era is dawn- 
ing. And that applies not only to Germany but to the 
whole world." 

With an American friend of mine, a prominent busi- 
ness man, not a journalist, Herr von Gwinner was very 
outspoken on the subject of the position of the business 
man in Germany. My friend protested one day, saying 
that in the last ten years the Kaiser seemed to have as- 
siduously cultivated his princes of industry. " Pah ! " 
von Gwinner replied, " as far as politics and Govern- 
ment offices were concerned, they were merely titled 
head-clerks, or advisory experts. They were without 
any vote or power." 

He blamed the Kaiser for the condition of Germany's 
diplomatic service, saying that it was he who was re- 
sponsible that diplomatic honours have been accorded 
more with a view to birth than on account of merit. 
Von Gwinner hates diplomats, in fact, he loathes the 
whole Foreign Office, and is reported to have said — 
again my American friend is my informant — that 
" but for the idiots in the Wilhelmstrasse this war would 
never have been." 

It is, of course, well known that the Kaiser has again 
and again tried to persuade Herr von Gwinner to take 
a seat in the Cabinet, but he has steadfastly refused. 

" Mich immerfort herum qualen mit den Gross- 
maiilern im Reichstage, nah danke schon " (" To wran- 

1 Now Minister of the Interior. 

2 Resigned. 



ai8 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

gle, to be pestered continually with the * big shouters ' 
of the Reichstag, no thanks"), is what he confided to 
his friends. And so von Gwinner remains at the helm 
of the Deutsche Bank, and evidently also finds time for 
his hobbies. 

Von Gwinner, of course, is the promoter of the Bag- 
dad Railroad scheme. It was not easy to get him to 
talk on the subject, though it has been for years the 
very apple of his eye. Now and then he would venture 
a prediction, make a statement or express an opinion 
or a hope about the future of his foster-child. I shall 
deal with those parts of my interview in my chapter on 
the German-Turkish Alliance.^ 

" How long do you think this war is going to last ? " 
I asked him one day. 

The answer came at once. No question can baffle 
Herr von Gwinner. 

" The war will last until Germany can conclude an 
honourable peace — i.e., on such terms as will hold the 
necessary guarantees against interference and wanton 
attack from backward and jealous nations. Then she 
wiU once more continue to fulfil her peaceful mission, 
the development of her commerce, and the improvement 
of the social conditions of her labourers." 

He declined to specify the guarantees. 

Of course, he dwelt at length on Germany's sound 
financial condition, and tried to prove it to me by books 
and statistics. Not being very strong on financial sub- 
jects, I prefer not to go into this part of his conversa- 
tion. The essence of it was : 

1 Chapter L. 



ARTHUR VON GWINNER 319 

" WIr halten durch » (" We'll stick it out "). 

I liked Herr von Gwinner. He was one of the few 
Germans I met who I think was absolutely honest with 
me. 



CHAPTER XLI 

' DE. WALTHER RATHENATJ 

'nnHE man who keeps Germany eating and shoot- 
X ing" — thus was Dr. Walther Rathenau, the 
son of the founder of the A. E. G. (AUgemeine Elec- 
tricitats Gesellschaft), described to me. Can you 
imagine a more tantalising definition to a journalist in 
search of information? 

Dr. Rathenau occupied until a short time ago the 
very responsible position of Chief of the Raw Material 
Department at the War Office. I am, of course, unable 
to say what is at the bottom of his retirement, but I 
should not be surprised if his liberal views, his lack of 
the " Gott strafe England " cult had something to do 
with it. 

Rathenau is a Jew, of about forty-three to forty- 
four years of age, I should judge. He wears a short, 
pointed beard, such as are popular in the navy, and he 
is very tall. His manner was very un-German, it was 
pleasant and polished. He is a many-sided man. In 
the first place, of course, he is a thorough practical 
engineer. Until shortly before the war he was at the 
head of one of the largest German banks, and finally 
he is an author of no mean literary talent. He has 
written several works dealing with Men, Thoughts and 
Things in Germany before the war. Best known are 
his "Reflections" and "Criticism of the Era." He 
has travelled all over the world, and speaks French, 
English and Italian like a native. 

This was the man to whom young Hindenburg 
(nephew of the General), a personal friend of his, had 

320 



DR. WALTER RATHENAU 321 

given me a warm letter of introduction. It procured 
me an audience with the big man at once. It was one 
of my first in Germany. 

Let me state right here that it was a pleasure to 
converse with Dr. Rathenau. In both interviews I had 
with him, the first one lasting about an hour, there was 
not one jarring note. His expressions, while showing 
confidence and hope, lacked that bravado, " Deutsch- 
land-iiber-Alles " and " England-the-guilty, England- 
the-hated " spirit which only too frequently was found 
in my intercourse with Berlin ofiicials. 

Most of the conversation was carried on in English. 
While starting with the usual polite preliminaries, I 
offered him a cigarette. He looked at the label, smiled, 
and with mock seriousness remarked : " Egyptian, 
h'm; I should not smoke those, should I? But then I 
have a weakness for certain things, though they are the 
enemy's products. Try one of mine," and he offered 
me a Russian cigarette in exchange. 

Of course, the subjects nearest to my heart were 
copper, rubber and petrol. I had found in previous 
conversations — or I should rather say, " attempted 
conversations," because I never got very far on these 
subjects — 'that they were extremely delicate topics, 
and it was pointed out to me on different occasions that 
it would be more " tactful " not to touch on them. 
The moment you bring up the subject of Germany's 
supply of raw material — " Yes, it's a very nice day, 
isn't it? " or, as the case might be, " Isn't this wretched 
weather?" That, as a rule, was all the satisfaction 
you got except with those people who thought they 
might be able to make you believe in a little fairy tale 
about " Germany, the Land of Plenty." 

Dr. Rathenau looked at me out of the corner of his 
eyes, then got up, and from a drawer of his desk — the 



BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

interview took place at the War Office — took out a 
fair-sized book, and, holding it up before my eyes, gave 
me the opportunity to see something about " Rohstoffe 
in Deutschland" ("Raw Material in Germany"). 
My heart began to beat faster. " At last," I thought, 
"we'll get some real authentic figures; fine story." 
But the truth of the saying that there is many a slip 
'twixt a story in the War Office and the same in the 
paper came true once more. 

" This," said Dr. Rathenau, while patting the 
wretched volume tantalisingly, " contains everything 
about every grain of raw material in this country ; the 
means and methods of producing and obtaining more — 
in short, all you would like to know about it ; but . . . 
those are deep * secrets of State,' and therefore I can- 
not show it to you any further than on its outside." 
That was almost worse than the usual replies I had 
received. No amount of diplomacy, arguments, 
wheedling, or promises, could persuade the polite doc- 
tor to part with the volume, not even for a minute. 

" All I can tell you," he said, " is that if our enemies 
are waiting till we are starved out, till we are short of 
copper, and till our guns are silent — well, they'll have 
a jolly long time to wait." Then the subject was 
changed. 

" Why don't you go and take some of the menus in 
our large restaurants, have photographic copies made 
of them, and verified by your consuls? Send those 
abroad, and let people judge for themselves how badly 
we are starving." 

" But, as you were saying, copper ..." 

" You are very insistent," he fired back, " but I will 
try to help you a little, and I assure you you are the 
first journalist with whom I have discussed this subject 
at all. If you take the yearly statistics you will find 



DR. WALTER RATHENAU 323 

that Germany during the last five years has imported 
an average of over 200,000 tons of copper a year. 
With our own productions at Mansfeld our total 
supply amounted to close on 250,000 tons. Our ex- 
ports of electrical goods, machiner}^, etc., in which cop- 
per was used, did not exceed 100,000 tons a year, so 
nearly 150,000 tons of copper have remained in this 
country. 

" Much of this has been combined with other metals, 
but we have experimented, and our chemical develop- 
ments have reached such a pitch of perfection, that over 
seventy-five per cent, can be reduced again to pure 
copper. For one thing, we have thousands of tons of 
telegraph wires for which we can substitute lines of 
other metal. Then go into some of the German kitch- 
ens. There is hardly a house where you will not find 
a certain number of copper pots and pans in their 
shining glory. 

" Look at the amount of copper that is used in every 
house, every hotel, every building. Our mines at Mans- 
feld have turned out close on 30,000 tons a year, but 
we have been able to increase the output by at least 
fifty per cent., to 45,000 tons. Besides, there are one 
or two sources our enemies have not figured on. One 
of them is the wonderful state of development our 
chemistry has reached. The best brains in the land 
are working on a new product, that may give the world 
in general, and our enemies in particular, another sur- 
prise, as did our 42's and our submarines. No, we are 
not at the end of our tether yet, not by a long way. 
Germany cannot be destroyed." 

This is, nearly verbatim. Dr. Rathenau's view on the 
subject of copper. I must admit that his words car- 
ried conviction. As I said before, his speech was 
marked by an entire absence of that spirit of hatred 



324. BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

which blinded so many views and spoiled so many argu- 
ments to which I have listened. 

Dr. Rathenau expressed as his opinion that out of 
this war may, perhaps in the not too distant future, 
arise a " United States of Europe." " That is what 
we need, that is what we should have," he continued. 
" What is at the bottom of this war? I am leaving out 
all considerations of neutrality, of diplomatic bungling, 
etc. It's the tariff. 

" Each country tried to build a tariff wall around 
itself, and to that you can trace all our troubles. In- 
stead of manufacturing everything in one country, we 
should let each country specialise in those goods which 
it can best and most cheaply supply. In these ' United 
States of Europe,' mark well, economically speaking, 
France might be left to supply all the silk for the com- 
bined countries, Austria glass, England cloth and ships, 
and Germany machinery and chemicals. America, for 
her part, might specialise in supplying the cotton of 
the world. 

" From the economic point of view, the various coun- 
tries to-day are still in the stage occupied by the indi- 
vidual family during the Middle Ages. Then they used 
to make everything at home — clothes, shoes, furniture, 
bread, etc. Soon people learned that they could live 
better and more cheaply by letting the tailor, the boot- 
maker, the carpenter, specialise on his particular busi- 
ness. That is what the various nations must learn to 
see." 

I asked the doctor whether he did not think that the 
financial task involved in the buying-up and transfer 
of the huge business interests to the various countries 
where they would be specialised would present insur- 
mountable difficulties. 

" No," came without hesitation ; " the money which 



DR. WALTER RATHENAU 325 

is spent now in one month by the fighting nations would 
be sufficient to buy up almost all the factories in any 
one of the individual countries and transfer them to an- 
other. This war is costing Germany one milliard marks 
($250,000,000) a month, directly, and two and a half 
times that amount indirectly. 

" But then, terrible as this war is, it will have its 
beneficial results as well. People in Europe were begin- 
ning to live too easily, too luxuriously; we were begin- 
ning to be threatened with stagnation. A man who has 
eaten his fill is no longer creative. He wants to sleep, 
not work. And after the war? Well, we'll all have to 
live together again. We all need one another, so what 
is the use of nursing this spirit of hatred and rancour.'' " 

The allotted hour was up before I knew it, and when 
several other matters demanded Dr. Rathenau's atten- 
tion I took my leave, without having heard anything on 
the subject of petrol and rubber. Dr. Rathenau's 
views and explanations on the subject of copper were 
subsequently confirmed to me from several other sources. 
One of these informants is a man who is very close to 
the Krupp concern, and another an American who has 
had business dealings with several large German firms 
which have used American copper for many years past. 

Krupps' man told me quite frankly that it was not 
copper the}^ worried about, but the rubber and petrol 
supply. They are manufacturing a substitute for 
petrol, now called " Benzol," a by-product of coke, but 
it also requires other ingredients, and those seem to be 
getting short. As for rubber, many professors of 
chemistry have been working for months trying to find 
a substitute for it. Up to a few weeks ago their efforts 
do not appear to have been successful. 

Already early in 1915 every private car and most of 



326 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

the taxis had disappeared from Berlin streets. After 
eleven at night it is very difficult to get a conveyance 
of any kind. 

The same informant, who must remain anonymous, 
said to me shortly before I left Germany : " If any- 
thing is going to break our neck, it will be rubber and 
petrol." He was one of the few men in Germany who 
were not out-and-out optimists on the outcome of the 
war, and he was, which is still more rare, honest enough 
frankly to admit it. 

From a fourth source, and I am repeating here only 
those views that I have tested and found as nearly accu- 
rate as it is possible to be in these matters, I have 
received the following calculation. It came from an 
artillery officer at present on the General Staff in Ber- 
lin, but for a time at the front in France, and formerly 
at the Krupp works at Essen. 

" All calculations as to the amount of ammunition to 
be used in warfare have turned out to be many hundred 
per cent, below the actual expenditure. It has been 
estimated that the number of cartridges used by Ger- 
many and our Ally during the last six months has aver- 
aged nearly 30,000,000 rounds a day. Our artillery 
has used an average of nearly 150,000 shells a day. 
Now let us see how much copper we need for that. The 
rifle cartridges would represent about 300 tons of brass 
a day, the shells about 100 tons, a daily total of about 
400 tons. 

" This amount of brass represents, according to its 
metallurgical composition, about 300 tons of copper. 
Multiply that by 365, that brings the amount of cop- 
per needed per annum to 109,500 tons for ammunition 
onl3^ We produce, including Mansfeld and some Aus- 
trian mines, close on 50,000 tons a year. We have an 



DR. WALTER RATHENAU 327 

enormous store of copper in the country which has ac- 
cumulated for a great number of years " (see official 
figures of imports and exports quoted above) ; " so 
when the Allies think that they are going to bring us to 
our knees on account of the copper scarcity they are 
making a big miscalculation. And I know what I am 
talking about." 

This same officer told me that during November and 
early December, 1914, there was a great shortage of 
artillery ammunition in the West, and that an offensive 
movement of the Allies was greatly feared then. " It 
was said on several occasions that the Allies had silenced 
the German guns, but the truth of the matter was that 
we had to economise our ammunition. It is here that 
America's assistance is of such importance. The Allies 
could never have manufactured their own supplies, 
neither of arms nor of ammunition." 

The feeling in Berlin is growing stronger ever}^ day 
against the so-called " double-faced neutrality " of 
America. *' Sending strong notes to Gennany, and 
weak ones to England, but plenty of strong ammuni- 
tion," is the general comment. 

Nobody was willing to say anything about the smug- 
gling of copper into German}', but I know that quite a 
good deal came from America through Sweden, and 
up to May, 1915, also through ItaW, in the latter case 
via Barcelona. Several American firms, amongst them 
the "American Smelting and Refining Trust" (Gug- 
genheim's), were approached for deliveries of copper, 
and certain guarantees, even of submarine protection, 
were offered, but most of the negotiations have been 
unsuccessful. 

In 1915 copper was worth in Germany nearly two 
marks (50 cents) a pound. 



CHAPTER XLII 

AMBASSADOR COUNT VON BERNSTORFF 

AMONGST my newspaper connections in New York 
(I am speaking about the month of August and 
the first half of September, 1914) was one paper which, 
already in those early days, showed somewhat pro- 
German leanings. (It has since succumbed entirely to 
the German cause.) 

Of course, this gave me the entree to the German Am- 
bassador, Count von Bernstorff, practically at all hours 
of the day or night. 

New York is the strategical publicity centre of the 
United States, so, after von Bernstorff's return from 
Europe in the third week of August, he left his charge 
d'affaires in Washington, while he moved to New York 
and established his headquarters at the Ritz-Carlton 
Hotel. I may note here that he usually spent his week- 
ends at " Rhinebeck," the Hudson River country place 
of the German-American banker, James Speyer. 

I have held many an interesting conversation with 
von BernstoriF, and to meet him from day to day as the 
war progressed, to watch his gradual change in de- 
meanour, was a study in contrasts that I would have 
been sorry to miss. 

During the first days after his return from Europe 
he looked very gloomy, and bore that gritting his teeth 
sort of expression of " We must hope for the best." 
But as the Germans gradually advanced towards Paris, 
and when finally von Kluck was reported to be within 
striking distance of the outer forts, up went his spirits, 
and his whole physiognomy underwent an entire change. 

328 



AMBASSADOR COUNT VON BERNSTORFF 329 

BernstorfF occupied a regal suite of apartments, but 
his drawing-room rather reminded one of a Divisional 
Headquarters. Numerous maps, books, flags, were 
spread out on a large table, and Bernstorff could usually 
be found bending over them. A dozen, nay, a hundred, 
times in those days he explained to me von Kluck and 
von Billow's march on Paris. Well do I remember his 
theory of the German " pincers." Verdun was sup- 
posed to be the central point. One arm of the 
" pincers " stretched from Verdun down to Belfort, the 
other one from Verdun to Paris, and slowly but surely 
. . . but wait, I am digressing. 

Either the 30th or 31st day of August, before I had 
hardly entered his room, he shouted to me : " I'll give 
them another week." I did not know what he meant at 
first, and asked: "Whom and what?" "Why, to 
enter Paris, of course," he explained. " Look here, you 
see, von Kluck is right there at Creil and in close touch 
with von Biilow on his left. Well, now they are going 
to . . ." and then for the hundredth time I heard the 
story of what they were going to do, but . . . never 
did. 

That same day I went down into the city and called 
on the German Consul-General, Dr. Horst Falck. 

He had not been a particularly pleasant subject for 
interviews, but that day he was almost amiable. He 
strode up and down his office, thumbs inserted in his 
waistcoat arm-holes, and turning his head from left to 
right, forwards and sideways, he laughed : " Ah, my 
dear fellow, it's all over but the shouting." I told him 
what the Ambassador had said about giving von Kluck 
a week. "A week?" he repeated, "a week? Why, 
I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that he'll march down 
the Champs Elysees in less than four days." (And I 
did not take him on!) " The French are not going to 



330 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

defend Paris. I have even received confidential infor- 
mation that they are ready to discuss peace terms. 
Ha, ha ! it's 1870-71 all over again, only this time a bit 
quicker work. Ha, ha ! " And even outside in the 
noisy hall, while waiting for the lift, I could hear the 
exuberant doctor's " Ha ! ha ! " 

He was doing the shouting a bit too early. I never 
saw him after that (but that was not my fault!). 

To return to Bernstorff. When von Kluck did not 
" take " Paris, but branched off to the southeast, of 
course Bernstorff knew " exactly " the why and the 
wherefore. 

" Oh, don't you worry " (I didn't) ; " postponed is 
not put off." (It was this time, though.) " I'll tell 
you exactly what he is going to do. You see, the 
pincers are closing in. The Crown Prince is advancing 
west; well, von Kluck and von Biilow are advancing 
east. Now don't you see what will happen.'' " 

I did not, and said so. 

" Why, man, the case is as simple as A B C ; it's as 
clear as daylight. They can take Paris any day. 
They are first going to crush the whole French 
AND British armies between the right and the left 
German wings. They are simply carrying out an 
encircling movement." 

Oh, of course ! Then I saw ! All the same, I may as 
well admit that I was greatly impressed by his clear, 
and often convincing, talk. Things looked pretty dark 
for us in those days. 

Shortly after BernstorfF's return from Europe he 
had an audience with Mr. Bryan, then Secretary of 
State. Passing, at its conclusion, through the outer 
office, he was just about to enter the diplomatic ante- 



AMBASSADOR COUNT VON BERNSTORFF 331 

chamber, when he stopped and inquired of " Eddie," an 
old-time State Department attache, "Who is inside?" 
nodding towards the waiting-room. " Nobody but the 
Dominican Minister," replied Eddie. 

" Let me see," mused Bernstorff. " Oh, that's all 
right then; I am not yet at war with him." 

When I told von Bernstorff that I was going to Eu- 
rope, and that I hoped to visit the various war zones, 
he gave me an introduction to the Berlin Foreign Office, 
and also to his colleague at The Hague — then Herr 
von IMiiller — " in case I should have difficulties in en- 
tering Germany." I never had an opportunity to pre- 
sent Herr von Miiller's letter, as was, alas ! the case with 
several other valuable German introductions. 

BernstorfF's last words to me were: 

" Peace will only come through German victory." 



CHAPTER XLIII 

MATTHIAS ERZBERGER 
PRESS MANIPULATOR AND ADVERTISING EXPERT 

ENTER Herr Erzberger, Leader of the Centrum 
Party in the Reichstag, Chief of the Press Bureau, 
and late General German Press Agent and Press Manip- 
ulator in Italy. 

He is one of the most influential men in Germany to- 
day, and is in closest touch with the Emperor. When 
one day, at the General Staff, I produced my letter of 
introduction to him, one of the Press Majors remarked: 
" Oh, that is all you will need in Berlin. He is, next 
to the Chancellor, the Kaiser's most intimate adviser." 
That statement was corroborated many times. 

On meeting Herr Erzberger you would never think 
he had such power. His appearance is far from pre- 
possessing. 

He has a tendency to German embonpoint, a red face, 
and large fat hands with podgy fingers. In fact, he is 
a typical representative of the German middle classes, 
who, you cannot help thinking, would look more suit- 
able clad in white overalls, with a large butcher's knife, 
than in frock-coat and bowler hat, carrying a bulky 
porte-feuille iinder his arm. Not so many years ago 
Erzberger used to be a schoolmaster in an insignificant 
Bavarian village. To-day every one in Germany has 
to reckon with him. 

My meeting with the " famous " man was quite spec- 
tacular. I called on him, to present my letter from 
Count von Hertling, Bavarian Minister of Foreign Af- 
fairs, the morning after his return from one of his 

332 



MATTHIAS ERZBERGER 333 

periodical trips to Italy. He was in a great flurry 
and terribly busy. 

" Very sorry," he exclaimed, while running about his 
private office on the Koniggratzer Strasse, collecting a 
number of important-looking documents and various 
maps of Italy, " very sorry, indeed, but I am just off 
to the Palace. I am lunching with his Majesty." 

" I see," I gasped, duly impressed, and then inquired : 
" I trust you are bringing him good news from Rome, 
from your Italian ally? " 

" Certainly, yes, certainly," came back in a very 
offhand manner and tone of voice, " as good as can be 
expected ; nothing to worry about. Anyhow, always 
remember our good old German motto," and pausing in 
his perambulations, he stopped in front of me and sol- 
emnly quoted : " We Germans fear God, but nothing 
else in the world." 

A minute later he was off. 

Naturally I was most anxious to learn something 
about the Kaiser's views on the situation, so in the aft- 
ernoon, after Erzberger's return from the Imperial 
luncheon, I renewed the offensive. However, the re- 
doubt was a bit too strong to be carried at a rush. 
But let us see. 

The first attack was repulsed with : " You surely 
must know by now, Herr Beaufort, that the Emperor's 
words are sacred. Whatever he wishes to tell the world, 
he will — through his own channels." 

I was properly squashed, and apologised for my stu- 
pidity. Evidently I had run plump into barbed wire. 
I acknowledged my pitiful ignorance, but told him that 
I had been given to understand that I was confronted at 
this moment with the very channel of which he was 
speaking! Of course, even I, a stranger in a strange 
land, had heard of Herr Erzberger's influence, his 



334> BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

power, etc., and I had come to worship at his shrine! 

" Ahem ! hm ! " — cough — " ahem ! what was it you 
wanted to know? I did not quite understand," he 
asked. " Oh, about Italy ? Well, we think — that is, 
ahem ! I think — that Italy has it in her power to finish 
this terrible war without any further bloodshed. 
It would not cost her the life of a single man." 

"What?" I could not help exclaiming, then con- 
tinued : " Sorry, Herr Erzberger, I am afraid I can- 
not quite see your point. Please explain." 

" That's easily done. If Italy declared war on 
France to-day, and marched across the frontier, throw- 
ing her whole army at the French right flank and in her 
back, France would at once sue for peace; there is no 
question about that, we know it. I repeat it would not 
cost Italy a single man." 

" But, Herr Erzberger, how would that aflfect the 
other Allies, England and Russia? " I inquired, uncon- 
vinced. 

" It would affect them in so far as England knows 
well enough that her army is no match for ours. The 
French once out of the fighting, would enable us to re- 
lease a large number of army corps for our Eastern 
front, with which we would soon enough settle Russia." 

I am sure he believed every word he said, but it left 
me unconvinced. " Suppose Italy should join the 
Allies, what would be the effect in that case? " 

Erzberger thought for a moment and then answered: 
*' Quite different in many ways, but not in the manner 
the Allies think. Peace would only be possible in the 
alternative I have shown you. If Italy joins the AUies, 
oh, well, we are fighting seven countries already, I sup- 
pose we could manage an eighth." After a moment's 
interval he continued, but his voice was considerably 
more serious : " But what do you think would be the 



MATTHIAS ERZBERGER 335 

world's opinion of such a base action on the part of 
an ally? Is there any word that could express such 
a crime? Where would Italy find another ally? 
Where would she find a country that would trust her 
once this war is settled? What excuse could she give 
for having remained a member of the Triple Alliance? 
Ital}^ may remain neutral and save her honour, but she 
can never, by virtue of the Triple Alliance, assist the 
enemy." 

From these remarks, not so much from the actual 
words as from the manner in which they were spoken, it 
was easy to conclude that when Herr Erzberger said 
that Italian affairs were " as good as might be ex- 
pected," he was making a dubious sort of statement 
which could be taken in different ways. 

It is said in Berlin that it took the Admiralty many 
weeks before they succeeded in persuading the Emperor 
to sign the Submarine Blockade Bill. Erzberger is 
supposed to have played a very important part in con- 
vincing the Kaiser of its necessity and advisability. A 
day or two before the blockade came into effect, I called 
on him, and asked him to give me his views. " Here 
they are," he said, presenting me with several sheets of 
closely typewritten matter. " You'll find all I have to 
say on the subject here, and you are at liberty to use 
it as you like. Better put it in the form of an inter- 
view." 

I shall not quote the whole article because it con- 
tained many things which have been expounded only 
too often before. The substance of it was: 

" This blockade is for us nothing but an act of self- 
defence. It is not only based on the law of self-preser- 
vation, but we are also forced into it by the recent 
English Admiralty Secret Orders, wherein British ships 



336 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

are advised to hoist a neutral flag in case of danger 
from the enemy. The naval expert of the Times ad- 
mits the existence of that order, and tries to justify it 
by explaining that it is a ' recognised war ruse.' The 
submarine blockade order is only the answer to the 
action of the British Admiralty. He who — in war — 
has any power at his disposal, and does not use it with- 
out mercy, commits an unpardonable crime against his 
own country. This blockade is not going to be, as 
some of our adversaries have described it, a ' brilliant 
bluff,' but bitter earnest, as coming events will prove. 
By the end of this month Germany will have shown all 
the world that in time of war, we Germans do not talk 
but act, and act in such a manner as our own interests 
demand." At the time of reading the " interview " I 
could not help smiling at the inordinately bombastic 
style, so typical of a German. I remember about the 
same time — Le., just before the blockade was to come 
into effect — speaking to a well-known and very capable 
officer at the War Office, Captain Grau. "Ah," he 
said, in answer to my remark that the future alone 
would tell. " Yes, you are right ; but let me tell you 
that that future is not so very far off. In a month 
from' now you'll hear and see many great changes." 
He was referring to the results of the blockade, and he 
spoke with great conviction and in deep earnest. He, 
and a great many other Germans, who should have 
Jcnown better, seemed convinced that the blockade would 
bring about an almost immediate clamour for peace 
from the " starving " British population. 

But to return to Herr Erzberger's view of the sub- 
marine campaign. 

" When a country of forty-four millions," the article 
continues, " threatens to starve out a country of sev- 
enty-seven millions, then this latter country has an 



JVIATTHIAS ERZBERGER 337 

unquestionable right to defend itself, and fight for its 
existence, its culture, its independence with every means 
at its disposal. In this war, which was forced upon us, 
we shall never consider what our enemies would like us 
to do, but only that which is useful and beneficial to our 
own nation. The confidence of the whole of Germany 
in the eflBcicncy of our Navy is so strong, so universal, 
that every one looks forward with calm assurance to 
the successful accomplishment of whatever task it may 
undertake." 

Speaking about the submarine campaign, I must 
mention Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I think he was in 
those days the most popular and widely read author In 
Germany. A magazine story written by him a short 
time before the war, and called " England in Danger," 
has been translated, and was sold in booklet form at 
one mark (24 cents). A well-known bookseller, one 
of the largest In Berlin, told me that over a million 
copies of that story had been sold, and that it was still 
" going strong." Those who have read it will remem- 
ber that England is forced by the submarine tactics of 
a much smaller nation to open peace negotiations. Ap- 
pended to the German translation of this story are 
opinions expressed on It by a number of English naval 
experts, such as : Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, Mr. 
Frank T. Bullen, Admiral Sir Algernon de Horsey, 
Admiral Sir Compton Domvllle, Admiral Penrose Fitz- 
gerald, Admiral William Hannam Henderson, Mr. Fred 
T. Jane, Admiral Sir William Kennedy, Mr. B. Eyres 
Monsell, Mr. Douglas Owen, Admiral Sir Edward 
Hobart Seymour and Mr. Arnold White. 

It may also be of interest to many Londoners to 
know that the man who translated Sir Arthur's sub- 
marine story was Woldemar Schiitze, who, until August 



338 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

3rcl, 1914, was a member of the London Chamber of 
Commerce, and, according to his own statements, was 
"in closest touch with London Stock Exchange cir- 
cles"! 



CHAPTER XLIV 

SECRETARY OF THE LATE GERMAN COLONIES, 
" EXCELLENZ DR. SOLE," AND HIS A.D.C., DR. BUCHER 

WHAT'S the good of trying to send the truth 
abroad? Thej'^ won't believe us, anyhow. No! 
Send 42's " (referring to the 42-cm. howitzers) " and 
submarines. Their language is understood all over the 
world, and carries the greatest weight." 

Here is unadulterated " Deutschland iiber Alles " 
sentiment for you, such as I was greeted with at the 
Colonial Office in the Wilhelmstrasse, by Dr. Biicher, 
A.D.C. to the German Colonial Secretary, Dr. Solf. 

But let us start at the beginning. 

Through the kind offices of Dr. Rathenau, Chief of 
the Raw Material Department of the AVar Office, I ob- 
tained an introduction to the Colonial Secretary, and 
the promise of an interview. My enterprising spirit 
received a rude shock when I learned that the " inter- 
view " was to be one of the " ready-made " variety.^ 
It was my first introduction to the " made-in-Germany " 
kind. It was all neatly typewritten. The questions 
which I asked {i.e., sliould have asked — but did not) ; 
the interruptions (which did not take place), the ges- 
ticulations and modulations of the Secretary (which I 
neither heard nor saw), were all included; in short, it 
looked the " real thing." All I would have to do was 
to translate it, and then take it across the Wilhelm- 
strasse to the Press Department of the Foreign Office, 
which, after having compared original and translation, 
would O.K., seal and mail it for me. 

1 See Chapter VI. 

339 



340 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

The " interview " was mainly retrospective. It was 
the well-known German plea of " not guilty " either in 
Africa or in Europe. He tried to prove that Ger- 
many had been forced to fight in Africa. He referred 
to the Congo Treaty, which empowered belligerent coun- 
tries interested in African colonies in the Congo Valley 
to neutralise those territories, etc., etc. 

" But England," so the paper ran, " was determined 
to hurt Germany wherever she could, so the Allies re- 
fused to recognise the Congo Treaty, and, as they could 
not place before the world their real reasons for doing 
so, they claimed that Germany had started the fighting 
on the African Continent." It continues giving names 
and dates that are supposed to prove that the Allies 
started the fight. It concludes with " England and 
France, by carrying the war into Africa, have thereby 
injured their own interests as much as ours, because it 
will take many years before the lost prestige of the 
white race will have been regained." 

Now apart from trying to palm off that ready-made 
interview on my unsuspecting and trustful nature, I 
have no grudge against Dr. Solf. On the few occasions 
when I met him, I found him extremely pleasant, uncere- 
monious and most un-German. All conversations I had 
with him were conducted in English, except now and 
then when he wanted to emphasise a certain point. 
But there was an entire absence of the " I-refuse-to- 
use-English " spirit, so prevalent amongst shopkeepers, 
waiters, hotel clerks and other representatives of the 
middle and lower classes. Dr. Solf looks very much 
like an Englishman of the comfortable arm-chair type; 
in fact, the caricature of John Bull might have been 
patterned after him. He seemed a jovial, unostenta- 
tious spirit, and he never once " strafed " England. 
When speaking about this country his voice sounded a 



" EXCELLENZ DR. SOLE » 341 

note of disappointment rather than of hatred. In fact, 
I believe, if the real truth were known, that away deep 
down in his heart he still has a sneaking liking for 
" perfidc Albion." True, he enumerated several in- 
stances of grave excesses alleged to have been committed 
by the French and British forces in Africa ; he banged 
his fist one or twice on his desk, but with it all, the role 
of " Gott-strafe-England " character did not appear 
natural to the genial professor. Between ourselves I 
think that if he could be caught privately — say, at a 
pleasant little dinner — he would, in an unguarded 
moment over coffee and cigars, admit that he had only 
the pleasantest recollections of days and incidents spent 
among the British, in their Colonies as well as at home 
in England. 

Of course, I must hasten to add that these observa- 
tions are purely conjectural, but I believe that any one 
who knows Dr. Solf will agree with them. 

As he did not wish to completely disappoint my hopes 
of a personal interview, he consented to try and answer 
a few questions which I wanted to ask him, one of them 
concerning the future of the German Colonies. Natu- 
rally he was very reticent on this point. 

" It is a bit early in the day to discuss that subject, 
and I prefer not to go on record with prophecies or 
speculations. This much though I will say, viz. : 
That I expect with every confidence that after the war 
we shall find a larger working area among the primitive 
nations of the world, for our economic necessities. And 
our Colonial politics will he conducted in a manner 
befitting the hearers of culture, the spirit of which 
is deeply rooted in the German Christian point of 
view." 

I tried to keep in touch with the Colonial Office, but, 



342 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

as a rule, was referred to Dr. Biicher, the very excitable, 
explosive and firebrand variety of German. 

All qualities which Dr. Solf possesses, his A.D.C. 
lacks, but where the Colonial Secretary falls short of 
the usual dose of real hatred, the A.D.C. is supplied 
with an unlimited, ever-flowing source of it. I have 
met many "strafing" Germans during my sojourn in 
the Vaterland, but Dr. Biicher takes the prize for his 
supply of unadulterated, thorough and plentiful " Gott- 
strafe-England " spirit. And he is not slow in showing 
it, either. He has given me many an entertaining dis- 
course which has made the time fly. Though still com- 
paratively young — I judge him to be about thirty-five 
— he has already occupied several important positions 
in different parts of the German Colonies, and is thor- 
oughly au courant with Germany's colonial policy and 
affairs. His travels in many lands, his contact with 
the English and French, have left him unscathed. He 
remains thoroughly and utterly the super-German of 
the " Deutschland-iiber-Alles " and " We-must-win,-we- 
SHALL-win " type. With the very widest stretch of 
imagination you could not accuse him of being a diplo- 
mat, not even a German one. His temperament is ex- 
plosive, dangerously so for a man in his position; he 
hates the English, as I have already pointed out, with 
a force which continually finds ways of expressing itself, 
and he is absolutely convinced that those Germans who 
are trying to spread abroad the gospel that Germany 
is a " peace-loving nation," imbued with the spirit of 
" love your neighbour and work hard," are sentimental 
fools. 

" The truth, indeed ! " he thundered at me one after- 
noon. " Why should Germany have to justify her ac- 
tions when she is fighting for her existence, for her 
place in the sun.'' Why dilly-dally with countries that 




y. 



" EXCELLENZ DR. SOLE » 343 

are only neutral in theory? The only argument, the 
only language they understand abroad is ' Wir hauen 
sie ' " (We are beating them). " That, howitzers and 
submarines. Any other reasoning is futile. They 
don't believe us, anyhow." 

This is a fair example of the gospel of " Frightful- 
ness," and, to judge by subsequent events, it has found 
many disciples. 

As may be judged from his remarks, Dr. Biicher 
cannot see any reason why we neutral journalists should 
be provided with any facilities for obtaining informa- 
tion. " Why should we have to beg America for her 
moral support? We are fighting against a- world of 
enemies, and we are not obliged to explain or defend 
our actions to an}' one. Neutral? Hah! that word 
has lost its meaning abroad. Everybody hates us. 
Why? Because everybody is jealous of us. 'We do 
not know how to colonise,' says England. Let them 
take official statistics on trade reports. They will find 
out which Colonies have done the largest amount of 
business ! " 

I had an opportunity later on to cut in with one of 
the questions I had come to ask, viz., about the part 
Germany played in the Transvaal rebellion. I pointed 
out that it did not seem quite logical that the Colonial 
Secretary should argue that Article 11 of the Congo 
Treaty should have been maintained in Africa, when 
Germany at the same time instigated and encouraged 
tlic rebellious tendencies of Beyers, De Wet and Mar- 
itz. 

Another explosion followed. " We had nothing 
whatsoever to do with that rebellion. The Transvaal 
and its leaders do not need German encouragement to 
revolt against England," he shouted so that it must 
have been heard across the Wilhelmstrasse. " They do 



344 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

not want English rule any more than the Egyptians 
do." 

I suggested that the revolt had proved that a dif- 
ferent state of things existed. 

" Wait, my friend," he returned. " Mark my words, 
the very first moment that things begin to go wrong with 
the English campaign in Europe, the Boers will be the 
first to rise. Do not ever believe that they are English, 
they are Dutch first and last." 

We changed the subject then to that of peace. " Did 
you come across any real sensible German," he asked 
me, " who is thinking of peace at present.? Have you 
obtained any impression, wherever you have been, that 
we are tired, that we are discouraged.'' If you have, 
you are sadly mistaken. No nation that accomplishes 
what we have in these many months of war, though 
attacked on all sides, can be vanquished. As to de- 
stroying our trade, in five years after the war we shall 
have it all back again." He put his hand in his pocket 
and took out a pen-knife. " Do you suppose anybody 
is going to pay the English or the Americans sixpence 
for this knife, when they can buy it from Germany for 
fivepence.P Certainly not." 

He also discussed America and the Japanese question. 

" The time will come when America will be glad of 
our help against the aggression of the yellow race. 
Our danger is not so great because we have Russia as 
a buffer state between us. Look what Japan was 
twenty years ago. Look what happened to Port Ar- 
thur. To-day there are fifteen Europeans there, while 
before the Russo-Japanese War it had nearly two thou- 
sand. In the long run America is going to suffer as 
much from this war as Europe. For one thing, it is 
not going to get any immigrants to speak of for the 



" EXCELLENZ DR. SOLE " 345 

next ten years." He added sarcastically: "America 
is drifting into the same imperialistic channels as what 
they call the ' mother country,' onl}^ there it sails under 
the flag of the ' Monroe Doctrine.' America's sphere 
of ' responsibility ' is as unlimited as the British sphere 
of ' protection.' " 

I have cited here some of the many absurd, not to say 
maliciously false, arguments which are used in Germany 
to-day, not by the uneducated classes only, but by men 
who are generally supposed to have reached years of 
discretion and learned judgment. 



CHAPTER XLV 

SASSENBACH SOCIAL DEMOCRAT 

ON my list of prospective victims to be interviewed 
there occurred, somewhat vaguely, the memo- 
randum, " a Social Democrat." They were harder to 
get at than the Chancellor himself — at least, those 
amongst the Social Democrats that amounted to any- 
thing. No doubt the Foreign Office would have been 
able to arrange something for me, but I wanted a real 
talk, not a rechauffe of Foreign Office rubbish, or the 
usual typewritten interview which you receive in your 
morning mail with your rolls and coffee. 

The only way to safeguard your interviews against 
official tampering is to take your victim by surprise. I 
took great care never to mention my " Social Demo- 
cratic " ambitions, but kept my eyes and ears open. As 
usual, patience was rewarded. My opportunity came 
one evening when interviewing " Excellenz Wehrmuth," 
the Lord Mayor of Berlin. Carefully I led the subject 
on to the Social Democrats (his betes noires before the 
war, but, of course, I was not supposed to know that). 
Now his Excellency had nothing but praise for their 
attitude. He spoke about the help he had received 
from them in the distribution of bread tickets. " Sas- 
senbach has behaved admirably," he said. 

"Who is Sassenbach?" I inquired innocently and 
ignorantly as well. And then I learned that Sassen- 
bach was something of an embryo Ramsay Macdonald, 
John Burns and Lloyd George rolled into one. 

When there is any labour trouble, it's Sassenbach 

who has to be seen. When factories changed from the 

346 



SASSENBACH — SOCIAL DEMOCRAT 34.7 

manufacturing of peace-time articles into munitions of 
war, and the rules and regulations of the trade unions 
were temporarily shelved, it was Sassenbach who 
smoothed things over ; when saddlers and munition 
workers were making too high wages at the cost of some 
of their less fortunate fellow-workmen, many of whom 
had been thrown out of employment, it was Sassenbach 
who regulated matters. He is entirely a self-made man. 
He speaks French and English fairly well, every word 
of it he has taught himself. He is City Councillor of 
Berlin, and could have a seat in the Reichstag to-mor- 
row for the asking, but he feels that he can serve his 
cause and his comrades better as the only Social Demo- 
cratic Councillor of the City of Berlin. Up till about 
the middle of last year Sassenbach's organisation, I 
mean that part of the trades union which comes under 
his direct supervision, had sent over one million men 
into the field. 

To-day Sassenbach enjoys the confidence of many 
important men in Germany; five years ago he was one 
of the most heartily despised firebrands. 

" The very man," I said ... to myself. 

The Lord Mayor, not very astute, and in no wise 
typical of the Prussian official and fire-eater, at once 
acceded to my request for an introduction to Sassen- 
bach. " No time like the present " is a truism nowhere 
so applicable as in journalism; so, from the Lord 
Mayor's official residence, I at once proceeded to the 
" Gewerbschaftshaus " (trade-union headquarters) at 
15 and 11, Engelufer, Berlin, South East. I sent up 
my card together with that of the Lord Mayor, and 
was at once admitted. A short, red-haired, bullet- 
headed little man received me most cordially, and turned 
out to be the great Sassenbach himself. Alas ! I was 
not to have him " unter vier Augen " (" under four 



348 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

eyes "), as a few minutes after my arrival Professor 
Francke, head of the Bureau for Social Economics, 
walked in and stayed. Still, he did not matter very 
much. 

Sassenbach had a great deal to say on the subject of 
the friendly relations that were kept up, in spite of the 
war, with the international committees of the trade 
unionists in London and Paris. He told me that only 
recently he had heard from both Mr. Appleton and 
their French colleagues. 

I did not see Mr. Appleton's letter, and, of course, I 
do not know the conditions that exist to-daj'^, but some- 
how at the time I think he spoke the truth. 

" Could your united efforts not have prevented this 
war? " was a question which naturally suggested itself 
to me. By his answer the man proved his mettle. I 
was amazed. It was splendid. He said: 

" Do you happen to recall a speech that was made 
in 1912 on the subject of Socialists and the Labour 
Party by the late Lord Roberts ? It caused a veritable 
avalanche of correspondence between, and from, So- 
cialists all over the world, and it made England buzz 
with excitement from north to south." 

I said that I had heard about several of Lord Roberts' 
speeches, especially about those in which he had ex- 
horted his countrymen to have their army in a better 
state of preparedness. " Yes," said Sassenbach, " I 
know that was part of some of his speeches, but the 
particular oration I have in mind is the one in which 
he said : ' We have heard much of the power of the 
Labour Party in international politics. It is said that 
the German Socialist will not make war upon his English 
or French comrade. This remains to be seen. Love 
of country in the actual day of battle has always proved 
itself superior to love of profit. That law has not been 



SASSENBACH — SOCIAL DEMOCRAT 349 

abrogated, and, if war broke out to-morrow, the Ger- 
man workman would acquit himself like a German, and 
the British workman like a Briton.' " 

I was simply amazed. Sassenbach had quoted en- 
tirely from memory, but when he had finished, he went 
over to one of the shelves in his room, took from it 
a dossier, and in a few minutes had found Lord Roberts' 
speech from which he had quoted. Sassenbach con- 
tinued : 

" Lord Roberts was a far-seeing Irishman, and many 
of us Socialists have often thought of his words since 
those dark days of July, 1914. I well remember the 
sea of correspondence and denials that that speech pro- 
voked here in Germany. We were wrong and Lord 
Roberts was right." 

Here was a nice little journalistic tit-bit. Lord 
Roberts, the one man in this country who warned Eng- 
land against its unpreparedness, with Germany in his 
mind, being eulogised by a German " Social Demo- 
crat"! 

My next question nearly got me into hot water with 
Professor Francke. I suggested to Sassenbach whether 
it might not prove a blessing in disguise for the German 
workman, if Germany should be beaten, thereby being 
relieved of the yoke of Prussian militarism? Francke 
got quite excited. Sassenbach started to reply, but 
was cut short by the Professor saying, "I'll answer 

him!" 

" Herr Beaufort, if you want to make yourself thor- 
oughly unpopular here, and your mission to be an entire 
failure ; if you want to make people shut up like a clam, 
then ask such questions or make such suggestions ! In 
the first place, we are not going to lose this war, but 
if we did, it would go ill with the German workman, 
because he would be taxed a great deal heavier than he 



S50 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

is now, to pay for the war indemnity ; and, secondly, our 
jealous enemies would place such restrictions on our 
trade that it would be impossible for us to compete." 

I asked Sassenbach why his party had been con- 
tinually opposing the increase of armaments. His an- 
swer was typical : " We realise to-day that we were 
mistaken. The working men do not as yet rule the 
world — this war is proving that. What would have 
become of us all if we had not had our army, if we had 
not been prepared as we are? " 

I thought that in such a case Germany would perhaps 
have shown a different and more conciliatory attitude 
towards various proposals made by other countries ; 
that her policy would perhaps have been less aggressive 
and overbearing, and consequently that the war might 
have been avoided. But he would have none of it. 

" No, no," he emphatically exclaimed, " Germany's 
spirit was conciliatory to the end. Read the last tele- 
gram our Kaiser sent to the Czar. We were forced to 
fight. England has been wanting to get at us for a 
long time. Does any sane person really think that you 
could have found one idiot in St. Petersburg who would 
have started this war with us if Russia had not been 
sure of France and England? Belgium — bah! As 
our famous Bismarck said many years ago, ' England 
does not go to war on a matter of honour.' Russia 
knew our strength and her own weakness. No ; this 
war has been a wilful attack on a peace-loving, industri- 
ous nation. I know the spirit and the feelings of my 
men. I am one of them, and that is why we have risen 
to a man, and we will stand together, low by high and 
high by low, and see this through." 

When a man of Sassenbach's type feels and speaks 
in that manner, prompted, I am sure, by deep motives 



SASSENBACH — SOCIAL DEMOCRAT 351 

and honest convictions, you may imagine how violent 
the feelings must be amongst the lesser elements. 

Later, I had a chance to return to his remark about 
still being in touch with the international committees of 
his organisation, a statement which naturally had 
rather surprised me. I was wondering whether by any 
chance the Government was trying to use the Social 
Democratic Party and the trades unionists to fly peace 
kites. So I thought I would set a little trap for my 
very interesting host. But he didn't take the bait. 

" Cannot you people, you millions of Socialists and 
trades unionists in Europe, who have been babbling and 
shouting about fraternity, peace and goodwill, bring 
about a settlement of this terrific struggle? " 

He gravely shook his head. " No, we cannot adjust 
these matters now. This is a war of our entire nation, 
and any peace arrangements must come from competent 
judges mandated by the nation. Though we corre- 
spond with our associates we never discuss the war. 
We have mutual assurances that after the war our rela- 
tions will he resumed where they were left off" 

As far as I know, the above was the only interview 
that has been obtained by a foreign journalist from 
a German " Social Democrat " since the war. The 
German Press manipulators keep them in the back- 
ground (the Social Democrats, I mean, though this 
applies to foreign journalists as well). 



CHAPTER XLVI 

MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR HELFFERICH 

AT a Press dinner given by Baron Mumm von 
Schwarzenstein at the Hotel Esplanade in Berlin, 
I managed to get a few words with Excellenz Helfferich. 
It was the only chance he ever gave me. He was the 
piece de resistance of the dinner. I asked him about 
the end of the war, but he refused to say when he 
thought it would come. " We are all going to be losers, 
we are all going to be very much poorer. France will 
become a second-class power, Russia will have to face a 
revolution, and England will get off with a black eye. 
Austria will suffer a set-back of twenty years, and it 
will probably take us the best part of ten years to re- 
gain our pre-war position." 

I should like to remark here that Herr Helfferich's 
ideas, as quoted above, are shared by many Germans 
in the higher positions. All through 1915 the illusion 
was very popular in Germany that the French might be 
bribed into a separate peace by the German offer to 
withdraw from the occupied French territory, provided 
France would leave Germany a free hand with England. 
Many Germans saw already visions of an " arrested " 
British army. Speaking about arrested recalls to my 
mind a story told at the above dinner by my table neigh- 
bour, a former Consul as Ostend. He said that when 
von EHuck heard about the landing of British troops in 
Ostend, he telegraphed to the President of the Berlin 
Police requesting him to send a squad of policemen to 

Ostend " to arrest the British army ! " 

352 




One of the largest Zeppelins leaving its shed at Marienthal near 
Berlin. Note size of men on fop 




A model Krupp gun, small type of the 4~ <■'"• Howitzer. This 
model is in the author's possession 



CHAPTER XL VII 

ADMIRAL VON CAPELLE AND " CAPTAIN LIEUTENANT " 
LOHLEIN 

I HAVE already referred elsewhere to my persistent 
visits to the " Marineamt " — the German Ad- 
miralty — and to some of its results. I must describe 
here an incident which has since been frequently recalled 
to my mind on account of its sinister and prophetic 
character. 

I was sitting in Captain Lohlein's office one morning, 
when all of a sudden the door burst open, and in rushed 
a higher naval officer. His sleeves were covered with 
gold braid almost up to his elbow ; he was flourishing 
a copy of the B. Z. (Berliner Zeitung am Mittag, Ber- 
lin noonday paper), and shouted: "Now, who rules 
the waves ? " I caught my breath for a moment as I 
read in big fat headlines the name " Lusitania," but 
fortunately saw immediately below, though printed in 
much smaller type : " hoists the American flag." He 
was followed by several other naval officers. 

The excited visitor was Admiral von Capelle, then 
Under-Secretary of State for the Navy, but since pro- 
moted to von Tirpitz' office. After it was explained 
to him that I was a neutral correspondent, and that I 
represented various American publications, he came 
towards me, thrust the sheet almost literally under by 
nose, and snorted : " Well, what is Herr Wilson going 
to do about this? He cannot very well remain neutral 
and inactive in face of such proceedings, such misuse 
of the ' Stars and Stripes ' ! " 

Then, again addressing the other officers, he con- 
353 



354* BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

tinued : " What a humiliation, gentlemen, what a 
frightful blot on the British flag! Hauled down — eh? 
— for one of our little submarines. Ah, well, wait," 
and here I was singled out again for his special atten- 
tion ; " before long we'll show the world something." 

" She " — pointing to the ship's name — " will stop 
her sailings, or we'll get her sooner or later. That will 
wake them up over there. Our navy is not going to 
lag behind our army in the matter of surprises. We 
still have one or two left both on sea as well as on 
land. In a month from now no British ship will put 
her nose outside a harbour with her own flag flying. 
The fact that the British Admiralty has issued instruc- 
tions that merchant ships should carry arms puts them 
on a level with francs-tireurs — civilians who fire on 
troops — and no pardon will be given them." 

He left the office as precipitately as he had entered. 
I asked Captain Lohlein how many knots his fastest 
submarine could make, but he shrugged his shoulders 
in answer, and said mysteriously, " Wait and see. We 
will ' show ' you before very long." 

Nevertheless, Lohlein referred to the British torpedo- 
boat destroyers as " devils incarnate." He gave quite 
an interesting and almost realistic description of that 
most critical moment when a submarine rises to the 
surface after having been totally submerged. " You 
see," he explained, " when we rise out of the water at 
first the range of vision of our periscope is very limited, 
and if a destroyer is anywhere within half a mile or even 
a mile, it is a close shave for the submarine. Orders 
have been issued that our submarines must not show 
themselves unless absolutely necessary. Of course, I 
agree that it is more humane to signal steamers first, 
and this is always done if possible, but not where it 
would be suicidal to our submarine and her crew. An 



ADMIRAL VON CAPELLE 355 

enemy torpedo-boat destroyer may be lurking some- 
where near, especially in misty weather, or it may even 
approach under cover of the very ship we are wanting 
to sink. We are fighting for our existence. You neu- 
trals are continually losing sight of that point. Acts 
of humanity in submarine warfare are too dangerous. 
Consideration of non-combatants must necessarily take 
second place to considerations of our own safety. If 
neutral nations are so shocked at the loss of life among 
non-combatants because our submarines do not want 
to risk their boats and crew, then they should persuade 
their Governments to take steps with the English, caus- 
ing the British Admiralty to withdraw from the Channel 
and the North Sea all torpedo-boat destroyers and 
similarly armed ships. In that case we will guarantee 
that in future not a life — non-combatant, be it under- 
stood — shall be lost." 

Let me emphatically assure you that Captain Lohlein 
was NOT joking. 



CHAPTER XLVIII 

PEESS-MAJOR HEEWARTH VON BITTERFELD OF THE GREAT 

GENERAL STAFF SETTLES THE PROBLEM OF 

UNIVERSAL PEACE 

AT the Press Department of the General Staff you 
meet Major Herwarth von Bitterfeld, who looks 
after the welfare — mentally speaking — and educa- 
tion of foreign journalists, more especially American 
ones. 

One of the first admonitions he gives you is to be sure 
and read a number of articles by English writers that 
have appeared during the last ten years, and which 
prove the sinister British designs on innocent, peace- 
loving Germany. The major, although assuring you 
that it will throw an entirely different light on recent 
events if you will only peruse those writings which 
preach the gospel of war against Germany, does not 
offer to lend you his copies, and evidently expects you 
to go over to England and hunt them up. 

When he has given you the list, titles, authors and 
all, you respectively and with due humility venture to 
refer to General von Bernhardi's book, " How Ger- 
many Makes War," which you think is somewhat of the 
same order as the articles the Major has referred you 
to. 

" I knew that was coming," he snaps back at you at 
once; "I have been waiting for it. Every journalist 
that comes in here refers to that silly book, which 
seems to be the only one they have been reading abroad. 
But let me tell you something. I do not wish to go 

356 



HERWARTH VON BITTERFELD 357 

into the merits or demerits of that work, but I can 
asure jou that that book has been chiefly circulated 
abroad. German people have hardly ever heard of it, 
and if you wanted to get a copy to-day, you would 
have to buy the English translation. You cannot get 
a German edition anywhere." 

"All sold out, I suppose?" you meaningly inquire, 
whereupon you learn that in Germany the book hardly 
ran to one edition of a few thousand copies. 

His second pet subject is: — 

" The future of Calais, Boulogne, Dunkerque, and 
the ' departements ' along the English Channel." 

The major plants his six foot something squarely 
in front of you and shaking his fist at a large map of 
the British Isles, surrounded by red dots (subma- 
rines.'') he bursts out: — "Do you know what would 
happen if Germany should lose this war? " You trem- 
ble to think of such a disaster and humbly admit that 
you have not the least idea. 

" Here, I'll tell you ; I'll show you," retorts the 
strenuous major, and, leading you to a map of Eng- 
land and the French Channel provinces, he stabs a 
big forefinger at Dunkerque, Calais and Boulogne, and 
then draws a half circle round that strip of France 
bordering the Channel, " England will never evacu- 
ate those places unless forced to do so by Germany. 
Did you, now be honest, did 3'ou ever hear of any Brit- 
ish troops voluntarily evacuating territory they had 
once occupied? " 

You look at the tall major with admiration, almost 
with awe; you look at the map, Dunkerque, Calais, 
Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais, and you meditate. You have 
been almost carried away by his brilliant eloquence, 
but somehow the big fat forefinger and the blackrimmed 



358 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

spectacles seem to spoil it. You are reminded of the 
German schoolmaster rather than the German General 
Staff officer, and . . . the spell is broken. Your sense 
of humour asserts itself, and addressing your in- 
structor, after, of course, a respectful interval — in 
which to find your words — you exclaim : — " By Jove, 
Major, now we non-military chaps would never have 
thought of that. Would you mind if I just jot this 
down in my little notebook.'' This is too important to 
chance forgetting." 

Of course the Major has no objection to having his 
words thus preserved for posterity. Evidently he is 
encouraged to further flights of rhetoric when you 
meekly inquire, " What will happen when Germany gets 
to Calais and Boulogne? " 

Ah, he sees you are a man of intelligence. That is 
JUST the question you are expected to ask. 

" Now the Germans in Calais and Boulogne, that 
would be quite a different story " ( rather ! I should 
think it would be. Vide Liege, Namur, Louvain). 
"Do you know what that would mean? (You won- 
der and tremble again. England," you think, but 
not aloud.) The Major answers the question himself. 

" That would create the millennium of universal 
'peace." 

You look surprised? The entertaining Major no- 
tices it. How stupid ! Back to the map again. " I'll 
show you. You see Germany would in that case be 
wedged in between England and France, thereby sepa- 
rating London and Paris. That would prevent France 
from making in future any further hasty and careless 
' offensive alliances.' And England? Ah, we would 
insist on building the much discussed tunnel under the 
Channel, the British exit of which would be guarded by 
a ring of forts manned by German regiments. This, 



HERWARTH VON BITTERFELD 359 

and the watchful eyes of our Zeppelin sheds at Dun- 
kerque, Calais and Boulogne would eradicate those ar- 
rogant, aggravating lines that ' Britannia Rules the 
Waves.' " 

There now, the whole problem of universal peace set- 
tled and solved. Oh, no, he was not trying to tell 
funny after-dinner stories. The interview took place 
early in the morning in his office at the General Staff 
Building on the Konigsplatz in Berlin, and the Major 
was quite sober at the time, which cannot always be 
said of him. 

So much for the future of the Channel cities, Calais, 
Boulogne, etc. It looks as if whichever way the for- 
tunes of war may fall, they are going to change their 
colour on the map. 



CHAPTER XLIX 

HERB, CEASS, KRUPP's REPRESENTATIVE IN BERLIN 

THROUGH my introduction to Herr Krupp von 
Bohlen I met his General Manager in Berlin, 
Herr Crass, who is the official go-between of the War 
Office and the Krupp firm. 

Now and then I met an honest German. Herr Crass 
was one of them. I think he gave me his views on 
conditions as they really were, and not as he should 
have liked them to be. I found him a very pleasant 
and genial companion, and during my weeks in Berlin 
I saw a good deal of him. Herr Crass did not have 
many good words for the German diplomats. He said : 
" The origin of this terrible war can be traced to two 
causes : Our diplomats and our Press. A free expres- 
sion of opinion, editorial views voiced by competent, 
educated and well-paid critics, such as are found to-day 
in the journals of all civiHsed countries, Germany 
knows not. A proper Press would have gone a long 
way towards preventing this war. As far as our diplo- 
mats are concerned, the least said about them the better. 
Anyhow, two of them are now where they can do no 
more harm — von Schon (formerly in Paris) is in 
Munich, where his office is a mere sinecure,^ and Lich- 
nowsky is on his estate in Silesia." (I met von Schon 
in Munich at a tea given by the American Consul-Gen- 
eral there. He was living at the time in a modest third- 
floor flat in a second-rate street. A far cry, indeed, 
from the palatial German Embassy in Paris.) 

Herr Crass assured me emphatically that Lichnowsky 

1 Since resigned. 

360 



HERR CRASS 361 

misinformed the Berlin Foreign Office about the situa- 
tion in England, Even up to the last day he reported 
that Great Britain would not go to war. Had they had 
another man in London war might have been averted 
at the last moment. It was Herr Crass who first told 
me the Germany diplomat story. 

Herr Crass believes that a military decision may 
eventually be obtained against Russia and France, but 
not against England. He had no exaggerated ideas on 
the subject of "making Albion pay." "England is 
very strong," he confessed to me more than once, " and 
I fear that we shall not dictate peace terms with our 
foot on the neck of the enemy, as some of our military 
leaders have so often predicted." Speaking about Bel- 
gium, he expressed the opinion that it would not be 
retained except as a pawn for future negotiations. He 
criticised German strategy in the West, and he gave me 
many interesting details of the famous War Council, 
which I have mentioned elsewhere. " If they had list- 
ened to the advice of some of our oldest generals, the 
history of this war would have been written quite dif- 
ferently. Of course, a scapegoat had to be found, and 
Moltke was the one. But it was not he who was most 
to blame." 

One of Herr Crass's relatives is a great friend of 
Prince Henry of Prussia, the Kaiser's brother. A few 
weeks after the declaration of war, this relative received 
a long letter from Prince Henry, in which he described 
the terrible scenes which were enacted at the Palace on 
August 1st, during the last hours before the Kaiser 
signed the Order for General Mobilisation. He said 
they had been heart-breaking. Telegram after tele- 
gram arrived from all parts of Europe, but those from 
Russia grew more and more ominous. Von Moltke, 
Falkenhayn, von Bethmann-HoUweg, Tirpitz and the 



362 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Crown Prince were present. The letter said that it 
took the Kaiser's advisers more than two hours before 
they could finally persuade him to append his signature 
to the edict that set the huge instrument of war in 
motion, and all Europe in flames. From the manner 
Herr Crass told me of this incident, and in view of the 
many reliable bits of interesting information he had 
supplied me with on previous occasions, I am forced to 
state that I feel inclined to believe his story of the 
letter without reserve. 

He criticised Germany's colonial policy, that of hav- 
ing small parcels of territory in different parts of the 
world. " What we need is one large colony, and to 
have it properly armed and protected," he said. He 
more than once directly hinted that Asia Minor might 
fill this long-felt want. Digressing here for a moment 
from Herr Crass, I should like to say that during my 
stay in Germany I heard many ominous whispers with 
regard to the future of Turkey. Turkey is expected 
to settle many difficulties, even those that are hound 
to crop up at the coming peace conference. The first 
time that I heard reference made to TurJcey was in Rome 
by one of the minor attaches of the (then) German 
Embassy there: " There is one great fact the Allies 
are losing sight ofT he said, " if nothing else, this war 
has already gained us one huge empire — Turkey. 
Does any sane person think that we are ever going to 
relinquish our foothold there? " 

Amongst well-informed people it is conceded that 
isolated tracts of land in various parts of the globe are 
a mistake, and it is believed that in Asia Minor Germany 
will find all the scope for colonisation she could possibly 
desire. Pan-Germanism-, centralisation — those are 
the German maxims of to-day. And, speaking about 
colonies and her own defunct ones, they say : *' Ah, 




The Famous Krlpp Armament Works at Essen. 5,000-Ton 

Press 



HERR CRASS 363 

well, it seems a pity to have fought there, such useless 
bloodshed, because what possible effect can the fighting 
there have on the ultimate outcome of the war? So 
long as .our forces hold such important and extensive 
areas of France, Russia and Belgium, it stands to rea- 
son that we shall either keep those, or exchange them 
for territory outside Europe." 

I am quite prepared to believe that it will take more 
than diplomacy to get Germany out of Turkey.^ 

On the whole, Herr Crass greatly bewailed the war. 
" Look at our trade ! We were doing wonders ; what 
more could we possibly ask? Look at Kiao-chau: it 
has cost us millions and millions, and now it is lost for 
ever. And our navy was supposed to be able to protect 
our foreign possessions. Bah! " 

Once in a while Herr Crass could be persuaded to 
talk shop — i.e., " Krupp." One evening at dinner we 
were discussing the respective merits of the Krupp v. 
the Creuzot gun. He certainly paid all due respect 
to his opponents and his competitors' famous " 75," 
and drew the following quaint analogy: 

" A Swiss watch is considered the non plus ultra of 
timekeepers. Yet there are the American watches, in- 
ferior perhaps with regard to their delicate mecha- 
nism, but, nevertheless, running quite accurately. The 
American watch has several great advantages over the 
Swiss watch, namely, it is stronger, consequently it will 
stand more knocking about ; it is cheaper and it is easier 
to repair. The same comparison holds good between 
Creuzot and Krupp guns. The Creuzot-built gun is 
a magnificent piece of mechanism, but the Krupp gun 
is stronger and does not get out of order so easily. 
The Krupp gun has fewer parts, and the barrel being 
built out of one solid piece of nickel-steel, has never 

1 See Chapter L. 



364 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

been known to burst. The Creuzot gun in expert hands 
is perhaps slightly superior to ours, but it takes expert 
artillerists of long training to serve it. In the hands 
of a French artillerist a Creuzot gun is a marvellous 
instrument of accuracy and destruction ; the Krupp gun 
in the hands of our experts lags very little behind." 

I reminded him of the poor show Krupp guns had 
made in the Balkan war. " Ah, that is easily explained, 
my friend," he at once replied ; " the whole trouble lay 
in their handling. The Bulgarian Creuzot guns were 
served by French-trained and an expert personnel; 
our guns were served by poorly-trained Turkish artil- 
lerists." 

Herr Crass claimed that Essen has a greater knowl- 
edge on the subject of gun-building, armour-plating 
and high explosives than any other place in the world. 
" Our secrets are carefully guarded. Take our 42-cm. 
(17-inch) guns. Only the oldest and most trusted 
workmen were admitted to the part of the works where 
they were being built. Our artillery practice at the 
range at Meppen is without a peer in the world. In 
1913, at our various shooting ranges over 60,000 pro- 
jectiles were fired, using over 6,000 guns. Any new 
invention in explosives, ammunition or ordnance is 
nearly always offered to us first, because for anything 
that has merit, and for which we are able to obtain the 
exclusive rights, we are willing to pay the highest price." 



CHAPTER L 

HERR BALLIN's A.D.C, HERR VON HOLTZENDORFF 

THE following interview may throw an interesting 
sidelight on the way Germany is preparing for 
the war after the war. It records a conversation which 
I had with Herr von HoltzendorfF in his magnificent 
offices at the Hotel Kaiserhof. Holtzendorff is Herr 
Ballin's right-hand man in Berlin; he represents the 
Hamburg- America Line interests in all negotiations and 
pourparlers with the German Government. Germany 
is, so to speak, a " one-man country," and most of its 
organisations are largely patterned on that principle. 
There is rarely room for two big men at the top — in 
Germany ; that is why the very able and often indis- 
pensable adjutants of her big men are very little known 
to the public. I have illustrated this in my chapter on 
Hindenburg and Ludendorff. 

Holtzendorff is Ballin's " Ludendorff." Let me say 
at once that I have been able to verify most of the 
statements Herr von Holtzendorff made to me with re- 
gard to the increase of Germany's merchant marine. 
The subject was brought up by my question with regard 
to the persistent rumours that were circulating in 
America, that the Hamburg-America Line was anxious 
to sell her ships, interned in neutral, especially Ameri- 
can, harbours. He denied most emphatically that there 
was any foundation whatsoever in those reports. " On 
the contrary," he said, " we are increasing, rather than 
diminishing, the number of our merchant vessels. Every 
yard we have been able to hire is working for us and 

employed in the building of new vessels. Why.'' Be- 

365 



866 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

cause after the war we expect that we shall need a much 
larger tonnage than ezier before. We have almost com- 
pleted two new mammoth steamers of practically the 
same displacement — 60,000 tons — as the Imperatory 
viz., the Bismarck and the Tirpitz. Besides those two, 
we have about thirty other ships on the stocks, varying 
in tonnage from eight to thirty thousand. After the 
war we shall have a new fleet of merchant vessels, as 
every other steamship company in Germany is following 
our example. England, no doubt, will establish a tariff 
ring round herself, but that will never prevent us from 
continuing our commercial activities in her colonies and 
in neutral countries. England will never capture our 
markets ; the world cannot do without GerTnany. 
Patriotism is a very fine thing, and in war time a real 
asset. In times of peace it is an entirely different mat- 
ter ; it works all right ... as long as it doesn't touch 
the pocket. No doubt there will be a certain amount 
of ill-feeling for several months after the war, say about 
six, but after that period? Well, if a man can save a 
penny by buying a German-made article he will soon 
forget his peace-time patriotism. The British will find 
that they are up against a much bigger proposition 
than patriotic scruples, viz., human nature, which, after 
all, is much the same the world over." 

He spoke dispassionately, without the least sign of 
hatred. As always, I remarked on the fact that he 
had not " strafed " England, whereupon he told me 
that the feeling of disappointment at England's inter- 
ference was much the stronger sentiment, with him as 
with many others. 

For many months of last year the eyes of official 
circles in Germany were on Egypt, and the Turkish 
campaign and plans. Holtzendorff, quoting Bismarck, 



HERR BALLIN'S A.D.C. 367 

said: "Of the British Empire, England is the head, 
India the body, but Egypt the neck! If we can take 
Egypt we can strangle Britain's world power." 

The Turks were at the time at " El Kantara," which 
means " The Bridge." This was considered in Ger- 
many a good omen. 

Holtzendorff confidently expected that, after the 
crossing of the Canal — which, of course, he took for 
granted — the Turks would advance in a southern di- 
rection along the fresh-water canal of Abassie, towards 
Ishmailie, and hence, always keeping alongside the 
Abassie canal, on Cairo. This route would necessitate 
no crossing of the Nile. Naturally, one of the first 
things the Turks would do would be to destroy the fresh- 
water canal, thereby depriving Suez, Port Said and 
Ishmailie of all supply of fresh water. The destruc- 
tion of this canal would also seriously interfere with the 
Allied warships in and near the Suez Canal, as the 
water of the Great Bitter Lakes is undrinkable. 

I am giving these opinions to show the German rea- 
soning, the German point of view, hopes and dreams, all 
of which have sooner or later followed the great ma- 
jority of many other abortive German schemes. 

Speaking about Hamburg, Herr Holtzendorff admit- 
ted that of course that city felt the war more than any 
other in the German Empire. The losses of the Ham- 
burg-America Line are enormous, too ; but, thanks to 
her solid foundation, her reserves and other resources, 
he was confident that, like the Fatherland, " We will 
stand the racket." 



CHAPTER LI 

THE GERMAN-TURKISH ALLIANCE AND ITS AMBITIONS 

* A S Antwerp has been called a loaded pistol pointed 
xIl at the heart of England, so the double track of 
the Bagdad Railroad will some day be described as a 
double-barrelled modern automatic pointed at the heart 
of India." 

Thus Herr von Gwinner, Managing Director of the 
Deutsche Bank/ and President of the Anatolian and 
Bagdad Railway Companies, in an interview I had with 
him last year in Berlin. 

It seems a far cry these days since Bismarck wrote: 
" Germany has no interest in the East," and " The 
whole Balkan question is, as far as Germany is con- 
cerned, not worth the healthy bones of a Pomeranian 
Grenadier." Five years after this was written — i.e., 
in 1898 — the Emperor made his famous Palestine trip, 
of which the Bagdad Railroad Concession was one of 
the many direct results.^ 

In 1914 Prince von Biilow wrote (in his book " Im- 
perial Germany ") : " If one can speak of boundless 
prospects anywhere, it is in Mesopotamia." 

Last year during an interview with Dr. Solf, Colonial 
Secretary, and his fire-brand A.D.C., Dr. Biicher, while 
discussing their dwindling colonies, the Minister said: 

1 It is said that the financial interests of the German Bank in the 
Asia Minor railroad schemes now amount to close on one hundred 
and fifty million dollars. 

2 The Concession was granted in 1899. 

368 



THE GERMAN-TURKISH ALLIANCE 369 

" Never mind, this war will be decided in Europe, 
not in the colonies. Besides, our enemies forget Ger- 
many's strong new ally, our Turkish friends. Turkey 
will amply compensate us for any losses we may sustain 
elsewhere." 

In what manner Dr. Biicher refused to define. But 
he subsequently added, smiling ironically, " We are 
going to adopt the English slogan on the question of 
* temporary ' occupations, viz., * Here we are, and here 
we stay.' " 

Before this war is over and settled, Balkan and East- 
ern affairs will have cost Germany the bones of many 
thousands of Grenadiers. But they think in Germany 
to-day that it will be well worth it. 

When I embarked on my European trip last year, 
an English friend of mine advised me to try and make 
it a special object to study wherever and whenever 
possible Germany's policy formulated in the slogan: 
" Der Drang nach Osten " (We push East). It was 
an excellent bit of advice, but a large order. It opened 
to me man^' new subjects. Of course, I well knew of 
Germany's influence in Turkish affairs during the last 
fifteen years, but my most sanguine expectations, fears, 
I might say, were exceeded when I became better ac- 
quainted with the extent of German ramifications in 
the Ottoman Empire. 

Since the Kaiser's Eastern visit, Germany has, with 
all the means, schemes and conspiracies at her disposal 
(and we now know how numerous these are), literally 
rooted herself into Turkish politics and economic life. 

It is not without a certain diflSdence that I approach 
my task of recording here, or trying to, some of the 
knowledge and information gained during the better 
part of two years' travel through Europe, including 



370 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Germany. I spent many long evenings in conversation 
with Turks of diametrically opposite viewpoints ; 
hours bent over excellent large-scale maps of Ana- 
tolia, Mesopotamia, Persia, Afghanistan, the North- 
West Provinces, etc. " How is it possible," I have 
asked myself again and again, " that intrigues, con- 
spiracies, underhand dealings, briberies of such magni- 
tude and audacity could have been carried out under the 
very nose of the British Government ? " I believe that 
the majority of people in this country are as ignorant 
to-day about German-Turkish affairs as they were about 
Germany and her plans at the beginning of the war. 
And that is saving a good deal! If this country had 
had an inkling of Germany's real intentions with Tur- 
key, and through Turkey with the whole Islamic world, 
she would have taken stronger measures to counteract 
German influences. (In the first place, by cultivating 
Turkish good-will, " coute qu^il coute"). The Turk 
was willing. Every honest and intelligent Turk I met, 
of course provided he dared say what he really thought, 
admitted that their alliance with Germany and Austria 
was not a natural one. But Turkey has always been 
afraid of Russia, her arch-enemy, and Germ.any knew 
how to exploit that fear, to hold it as a Damoclean 
sword over her head. " Our position was this," a 
certain well-known Turkish official said to me one eve- 
ning in Vienna, " Germany impressed upon us that our 
only hope of remaining a European Power lay in an 
alliance with her and Austria. ' Refuse it,' she said, 
* and before long Russia will kick you across the 
Hellespont.' " 

Slowly but surely, the German spider was weaving 
the web that was to entice the Turkish honey-bee into 
her clutches ; gradually certain cliques in Turkey, 
with German-made spectacles on their noses, began to 




England Astride Egypt, and Pulling the ^^'IREs for the 

Khedive 

Figure in foref/rouncl represents Sultan of Turkeif renrli/ vith n 

pair of scissors to cut the sfrinf/s 



THE (^RMAN-TURKISH ALLIANCE 371 

" see " that Germany's and Turkey's interests were 
" identical," and that the only means that could save 
her from ruin would be an all-embracing alliance with 
the Fatherland. 

But Turkey struggled hard, very hard. She knew! 
If only England, the old friend, had stretched out a 
protecting, reassuring hand, all of Germany's carefully- 
laid schemes could, even at the eleventh hour, have been 
thwarted. 

I may be wrong, but I believe that, in spite of Ger- 
many's thorough preparation of Islam, Turkey could 
have been kept out of this war. Oh, I know — as I 
have been told so often since my return to England — 
the Entente Powers, through their Ambassadors at Con- 
stantinople, gave explicit assurances to the Porte that 
if she remained neutral her independence and integrity 
would be guaranteed. " What more could we do ? " 
Huh ! Is it sufficient to tell a sick man, gasping for 
breath as the result of a drugged, poison-undermined 
system, to " sit still," " to keep quiet, and he'll be all 
right".'' No, he needs a tonic, and a strong one, too. 
That is what ailed Turkey. What the tonic should 
have consisted of, it is not for me to say. Competent 
doctors, no doubt, could have prescribed it. Where 
were they.'' Were they absent, or did they diagnose the 
case wrong.'' 

Let me say a few words about my sources of informa- 
tion. At a semi-official reception in Berlin, given by 
the wife of a prominent German official, to whom I had 
a letter of introduction, I was presented to the sister 
of the present Khedive of Egypt. Where her sympa- 
thies really lay, I was unable to judge, as my conver- 
sation with her was, with one exception, purely objective 



372 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEH. 

and incidental. She spoke about her brother's accept- 
ance of the British post. Personally, she did not seem 
to approve of it. She said that Prince Hussein had 
accepted the nominal dignity from purely patriotic 
reasons, i.e., because he believed that in that position — 
however much of a sinecure it might be — he could serve 
his unhappy country better than if he had refused the 
honour. As far as I was able to infer, she hears regu- 
larly from him. She seemed pleased to learn that I 
was greatly interested, from a purely neutral stand- 
point, of course,^ in Turkish affairs, and was instru- 
mental in my meeting a number of Turks, occupying 
high positions at home as well as in Germany. To some 
of these men I owe a great debt of gratitude, as great 
as an ambitious journalist and seeker after the truth 
can owe, to the most fertile and the most interest- 
ing sources of information, on a subject which will be- 
come one of the greatest problems of this war. From 
these men, and let me say right here, many of them 
rabid anti-Germans, I learned in a short three months 
more about the German machinations, intrigues, plots, 
coercions, hopes and dreams with regard to Turkey, the 
Mohammedan race, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Afghan- 
istan, Algiers, Morocco, Tunis and Tripoli, than I 
should have otherwise in three years. 

I had several long and interesting talks with a mem- 
ber of the entourage of the Khedive's sister, an old 
Turkish diplomat of high standing, who had for many 
years occupied responsible positions in Turkey and 
abroad. After a while, when I had been able to gain 

1 It is well to make this clear whenever discussing German- 
Turkish problems, because you never know for certain, not even 
in Germany, unless, of course, you are talking to a German, 
whether you are dealing with a pro-Turk or merely a pro-German. 
The two are by no means as identical as people think. 



THE GERMAN-TURKISH ALLIANCE 373 

his confidence, he spoke very freely to me. It is for 
that reason that I must refrain from mentioning his 
name. Though he lived at the time in Germany he was 
as utterly anti-German and pro-British as if he had 
been an ally of ours. But that did not prevent him 
from seeing things in their true proportion. Here are 
some of the opinions he expressed to me at various 
times : — 

" We know that our Alliance with Austria and Ger- 
many is not a natural one. We are not in it from 
choice, but merely from national necessity. The ma- 
jority of us would have welcomed with both hands a 
closer Entente with England. In spite of many dis- 
appointments during the last decade or two, we have 
always looked to that country as our natural protector. 
But Salisbury's declaration in Parliament in 1897 
that : — " Territory which has been once reconquered 
by the Cross can never be returned to the Crescent was 
a mistake. It has since been adopted as a slogan, and 
its principle carried out with a vengeance. Russia has 
always been plotting against us. She was always at 
the bottom of all our troubles and difficulties. Saso- 
now recently declared that, besides Galicia, Constan- 
tinople was her object in this war, and of course with 
Constantinople the northern part of Asia Minor. In 
1902 Abdul Hamid was inveigled into granting Russia 
all railroad concessions in northern Asia Minor (see 
page 12). Did Russia use those grants to improve 
the country, to build railroad lines.'' No, it was 
merely a political transaction on her part. The re- 
sult was that in 1914, i.e., after 12 years, Turkey 
was still without a railroad communication with 
her most important fortress in Asia Minor — Er- 
2erum," 

" Russia wants the Dardenelles, always has wanted 



874 BEHIND THE GERIVIAN VEIL 

them, but mark my words, she will never get them} I 
well remember the days of 1878 when the Russians 
stood before Constantinople, Disraeli did not lose 
much time then, or adopt a ' wait and see ' policy, but 
sent several warships at once into the Sea of Marmora 
to protect our capital. Had the British government 
done the same in 1914?, Turkey might never have en- 
tered this war." 

" What do you think is going to happen to Constan- 
tinople after the war ? " I asked. 

" At the worst internationalisation. None of the 
Allies will ever trust each other there alone. Let us 
look at the matter from England's point of view. 
What good would Constantinople be to her if Russia 
has a predominating influence in Asia Minor? What 
good would a British Fleet be in the Black Sea in that 
case? England must protect her road to India. If 
the Turkish Empire is destroyed, that road will be at 
the mercy of Russia." 

" Sasonow also spoke of an extension of the Russian 
Power in Persia. Persia up till now has succeeded 
fairly well in remaining neutral, by no means an easy 
task, I might add. Her opinion of Sasonow's plans 
is not difficult to guess. Is she going to assist Russia, 
and thereby commit National suicide? Hardly. For- 
tunately English diplomacy in Persia has been excellent 
so far, and has in many ways set off the harm done 
by Russi'a. England realises that Persia's influence 
can be of enormous consequence in Afghanistan, 
Beluchistan and India. The decisions which from 
time to time will be made in the Mealis, the Persian 
Parliament, may well be watched by England with a 
great deal of interest and anxiety. A Holy War, in 

1 This statement was made to me before the Dardanelles Expe- 
dition was abandoned. 



THE GERMAN-TURKISH ALLIANCE 375 

which the Persian Mahommedans joined, would have 
the most far-reaching effects. A British author, 
Lovat Eraser, wrote some time ago that Germany 
could not cope with Anglo-Russian Diplomacy in the 
Teheran. That may be so, but statements such as 
those made by Sasonow are not likely to improve 
diplomatic pour-parlers in Persia, in favour of the 
Allies. As Mr. Eraser very aptly added, ' In Oriental 
countries small causes often produce great effects.' 
Besides, Persia is necessary to England to protect the 
road to India. An independent, pro-British Persia 
would always be a serious menace to the Russian lines 
of communication in case of a march on India. All 
these matters may seem very far off to-day, but they 
will not always remain so. England's Achilles Heel 
lies in the Orient." 

A German officer, who had recently returned from 
Constantinople, in one of those more or less truthful 
after-dinner confidences, confided to an American : ^ 

" With all our work there, with all the good we have 
done those ingrates [sic], I have to adm.it that they 
still like the British better than they do us." 

Several Turks spoke of the " strong, clean hand of 
England." 

How often I heard in those days : " Ah, the British 
are just! " 

Turkey is beginning to find out that, whoever will 
win, she is going to lose. Whenever I wanted to get 
a rise out of a German officer, I would ask him : *' Tell 
me, what are the Turks really fighting for.^* Why did 
they come into this war?" Of course, these are very 

1 Miss Eleanor F. Egan of the " Saturday Evening Post." 



376 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

anti-German questions, and I never yet had them satis- 
factorily answered. 

As far as the Young Turk party is concerned, their 
interest in the war is passive rather than active. 
Forty Turkish pounds buys exemption from mili- 
tary service. Part of this is used to bring Turkish 
fighting material up from the heart of the Empire. 
They make excellent soldiers and fighters, but, as 'for 
any notion of what they are fighting for, they are as 
innocent as new-bom babes. 

" What good is all this fighting going to do Turkey? " 
many Turkish patriots are beginning to ask. The 
last thing the Turks want is to have German control 
in Constantinople. 

" What brought you into this war ? " I asked my 
friend the old Turkish diplomat. The answer came 
without a moment's hesitation : " Enver Pasha and 
Liman von Sanders. Enver Pasha has usurped every 
vestige of authority, and is rapidly becoming the Dic- 
tator of Turkey. The so-called ' Crown Council ' he 
created is a mere farce. The Minister of Justice is 
one of his tools, and the heir-presumptive. Prince Yous- 
sofF Izzeddin, is known to be utterly German in his 
sympathies. Prince Said Halim, the Grand Vizier; 
Talaad Pasha, the Minister of the Interior; Djavid 
Bey, the clever Minister of Finance, and the former 
Grand Vizier, Nakki Pasha, were all of them violently 
opposed to Turkey entering this war. Prince Said 
Halim stated to me at the time that it was simply ' sui- 
cidal.' It is only from motives of patriotism that they 
remained in office, hoping against hope that ' something 
might turn up ' to stop this downward slide of our poor 
country." 

Enver Pasha was at the head of the Arabs in the 



THE GERMAN-TURKISH ALLIANCE 377 

Tripoli-Italian War ; but, a fact which I do not believe 
very generally known, is that a German officer on the 
active list was with him during the whole campaign as 
his military adviser. Yet Italy was Germany's Ally ! 
Several of my informants — Turks — assured me 
that there was little doubt that Von der Goltz Pasha had 
been murdered. I was also told that Liman von Sanders 
would be the next. If there is any man who has made 
himself universally hated in Turkey it is that German 
General. He is to a large extent held responsible for 
having dragged Turkey into this war by his persistently 
aggressive policy and speeches against Russia. 

Now let us look at some of the German arguments, 
viewpoints, and logic in favour of the German-Turkish 
" WafFenbriiderschaft." Those quoted below have 
been culled from official and confidential documents 
which, through the kind offices of some of these Turks, 
who still have the real interest of their country at 
heart, I was privileged to see and study. Most of them 
were written in French. 

One dissertation, on time-yellowed paper (dated May, 
1898), came from the Wilhelmstrasse, and was evidently 
in answer to certain Turkish objections. It was typi- 
cal of many. It said : 

" The most natural, the most logical Triple Alliance of to-day 
is Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. You speak of selfish 
interests, my friend, 'Quelle horreur!' We want to help Turkey; 
we want to teach her how to live, how to till her lands, how to 
build houses and make them habitable, how to make machinery 
and how to derive the greatest benefits from it. We want to teach 
you German ' Kultur,' German knowledge, German honestj', Ger- 
man thoroughness and German philosophy. You express fear 
about your religion. Dear friend ! We shall never interfere with 
one text of your Koran. Not one temple, church, or other place 
of worship shall be desecrated by even as much as our presence 
in them." 



378 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Another letter of about the same date, and emanating 
from the same source, contained the following interest- 
ing paragraphs : 

"We will build railroads in your country, and show you that it 
is not a ' Shaitan arbasy ' (devil's carriage), but a bringer of pros- 
perity. And you will soon learn that the German bearer of Kul- 
tur does not come like the Russian, as a conqueror; like the Eng- 
lishman, as an exploiter; or like the Frenchman, as an usurer. 
No ! The faithful German comes as a helper and as a friend ! " 

Not a bad example that, methinks, of the type of 
German assurances of " disinterestedness " ! 

A paper, dated 1901, shortly after the Bagdad Rail- 
road concession was granted, said: 

"The roads to Persia and India must in future pass through 
the Turkish Empire instead of through Russia. The road to Per- 
sia will run from Constantinople (Haidar Pasha) to Samsun on 
the Black Sea and from there along its borders to Trebizond, 
from Trebizond inland again to Erzerum, Tabriz and Teheran." 

However, a year after that was written Russia got 
wind of these ambitious plans, and promptly cornered 
all railroad concessions in Asia Minor, north of the 
line Angora-Van Lake (described as the "Basin de la 
Mer Noire "). England, on the other hand, in March, 
1903, at the Bagdad Railway Conference, gave up her 
chances of participation in the Bagdad Railroad 
scheme. 

Again I read : 

"We will lead you once more on the highroad to become a 
strong, healthy world-power; drag you from your state of leth- 
argy, which has earned you the sobriquet of ' The Sick Man of 
Europe.' Your ruler is the spiritual head of the Mohammedan 
peoples. There are still two Mohammedan Empires, which, at 
least nominally, have retained their independence, though the two 
highwaymen, England and Russia, are lurking on the threshold — 
Persia and Afghanistan, They will become our allies — your 
allies if they see a new, strong, regenerated Turkish Empire. 
Egypt, too, will return to the fold when your ten miUion brothers 



THE GERMAN-TURKISH ALLIANCE 379 

there find out that you have the power to protect them. And so 
will Arabia, Tunis, Morocco, perhaps even Algiers. That is what 
a German-Turkish Alliance would mean to you. A Mohammedan 
Empire stretching from Constantinople and Smyrna to the Khai- 
bar Pass and Peschawur, and Allah only knows how far beyond 
into India, when some day the Mohammedans and Hindus unite 
against their English oppressor." 

One cannot help admiring the Kaiser's prophetic 
insight. In spite of a thousand obstacles, a million 
sceptics, including the great Bismarck and his powerful 
followers, he planned an economic and so-called pacific 
conquest of the Moslem world. For twenty years he 
has sown an Oriental, a Near Eastern policy. He will 
reap a rich harvest some day unless England stops him. 
It was Frederick the Great, who, more than one hundred 
and fifty years ago, first discovered that Turkey might 
be Germany's strongest ally against Russia. Napoleon 
did the same. The present Emperor always was con- 
vinced that a Turkish military organisation, trained 
and led by German officers, would prove a most valuable 
asset. I was told of a stormy interview that took place 
a few years ago between the Kaiser and Herr von 
Gwinner. The latter, who in those days did not believe 
in would-be passive, military-political penetration, ex- 
pressed serious doubts on the advantages of having so 
many German officers in the Turkish army. He main- 
tained that they did more harm than good to the Ger- 
man cause, and recommended that the majority of them 
should be recalled. The Kaiser flew into a rage. He 
would never permit such interference. He shouted: 
" Leave my officers alone ; their position there is worth 
more to me than ten army corps ! " Who can say 
to-day that he was wrong! 

All the same, if one examines more closely the struc- 
ture which he has built up in Turkey, he will find that 



380 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

its foundations are weak, nay — rotten. They neither 
consist in real friendship nor in mutual respect. (Mu- 
tual contempt would better describe them.) And an 
alliance, where those essential quahties are lacking, 
cannot be sound, and therefore cannot survive long. 

In spite of German intrigues, the Turks were slow 
to forget Great Britain's help, rendered in critical days 
of bitter need. In our conversations the name of Lord 
Stradford de RedclifFe, Ambassador to Turkey during 
the Crimean War, and even of Lord Salisbury, as Great 
Britain's delegate to the Conference in 1878 (where 
owing to his strong representations he obtained favour- 
able terms for Turkey), were frequently mentioned, and, 
especially the former, always with admiration, gratitude 
and respect. Be it said to the credit of British diplo- 
macy that it succeeded for a long time in keeping the 
warming fires of gratitude burning in spite of the con- 
tinual stream of cold water directed on them by the 
German firemen. 

" England's mistake," so I was told, " began in 1882. 
Having occupied Egypt and thereby made sure of the 
sea route to India, she thought that henceforth she had 
no longer any vital interest in Turkish politics. When 
she woke up from that delusion she tried to solve the 
Oriental problem by attempting to secure the land route 
to India as well. Then she met Germany, and . . . 
went to sleep again." 

Obtaining the Bagdad Railroad Concessions in 1899 
was one of Germany's star turns on her Turkish pro- 
gramme of Varieties. It was a factor of the foremost 
economic and political importance, and necessarily 
brought Germany and Turkey closer together. It 



THE GERMAN-TURKISH ALLIANCE 381 

caused a great deal of jealousy and distrust on the part 
of England and Russia. TT7?7/ England at the bicker- 
ings of the Bagdad Railroad Conference in 1903 gave 
up the chance of keeping a British finger in the German 
Bagdad pie, is a riddle which nobody with whom I spoke 
on these subjects seemed able to explain. The minor 
concessions obtained in Western and Southern Anatolia, 
Smyrna, Mersina, etc., can by no stretch of the imagi- 
nation be considered an adequate equivalent for what 
she lost. 

I had a most interesting talk one afternoon with 
Herr von Gwinner in the offices of the Deutsche Bank. 
I do not think a greater authority on Asia Minor rail- 
road matters exists. Herr von Gwinner said to me : 

" What does the world think of the fact that while 
we are in the midst of this gigantic war, surrounded and 
attacked by enemies, the Deutsche Bank is able to carry 
on its various railroad projects in Asia Minor .'' That 
does not look as if Germany were standing on the brink 
of an economic and financial abyss. Work is in prog- 
ress in various parts of the country. Building on 
the railroad line. Angora to Siwas and Kaiserie, was 
begun a few weeks ago. The stretch from Djerabulus 
to Rais el Ain has been completed since the war began. 
In the Taurus Mountains our engineers are overcoming 
almost insurmountable obstacles; 139 artificial struc- 
tures, i.e., bridges, tunnels, etc., have to be built there. 
Some of the twcnt3^-eight tunnels have a length of nearly 
9,000 feet. The most northerly one (near Belemik) 
was completed this jear. In the south a railroad line 
is being rapidly pushed forward towards the Egyptian 
frontier by Meissner Pasha and his German railroad 
battalion. We are active everywhere. 

" Russia stole a march on us in 1902 when she ob- 



382 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

tained the railroad concessions of Northern Asia Minor ; 
but now, of course, all those privileges will become ex- 
clusively German prerogatives. And so will every con- 
cession granted in the past to England and France. 
Russia will before long be driven back over the Cau- 
casus, thereby returning to us — I mean Turkey — one 
of the most fertile territories of Asia Minor." 

" The Bagdad railroad will henceforth he in fact, 
as well as in name, the beginning of the land road to 
India. And, as Antwerp has been called the loaded 
pistol pointed at the heart of England, so will the 
double track of the Bagdad railroad line some day be 
described as ' a double-barelled modern automatic 
pointed at the heart of India.' " 

The German plans for Northern Africa, including 
Morocco, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, are, for the pres- 
ent, i.e., until peace negotiations are opened, held 
in abeyance. Both Turkey and Germany realise that 
from that quarter they have nothing to expect. 

I saw the translation of a letter addressed to the 
Sultan of Turkey by a high Algerian dignitary. It 
was as simple as it was concise. It said that the call to 
join in the Holy War greatly interested the Algerian 
peoples, but that they were afraid of the French, who, 
as certainly as Mohammed, would kill them all if they 
should rise. Therefore they were very sorry, but . . . 
etc., etc. It was one of the simplest epistles ever writ- 
ten on such a big subject. And by an Oriental, too! 

Many letters of this kind, if not of its size, were 
received from various tribes of the Moslem world. A 
well-known high priest of Morocco bluntly countered 
the call to a Holy War with the statement that in North 
Africa they expected no help, either from Turkey or 



THE GERMAN-TURKISH ALLIANCE 383 

from Germany, in reinstating them into their inde- 
pendence. 

But, if nothing is expected from Northwest Africa 
during the war, Germany is keeping a steady eye on 
Morocco. She has not forgotten Agadir, and at the 
coming peace conference she will insist [sic] upon 
" being given the same territorial and international 
rights as France, England and Spain." Thus she will 
in future take part in " guarding the Straits of Gibral- 
tar ! " 

With Egypt, of course, it is quite a different matter, 
at least so they thought. The way Egyptian af- 
fairs have shaped themselves is another of Germany's 
great disappointments in this war. For many years 
German agents, enjoying diplomatic immunity, have 
been fomenting anti-English intrigues among the 
Egyptians, spending money lavishly. Germany calcu- 
lated with certainty on an Egyptian rising as soon as 
Turkey should enter the war. They thought that the 
thirty thousand Egyptian troops would at once mur- 
der their English officers, and overwhelm the arm}^ of 
occupation (five thousand strong). 

Here is a copy of a confidential note on the subject, 
dated April, 1914-' 

"Amongst the ten million Mohammedans, suffering under the 
British yoke, sufficient ' groundwork ' has been carried out to cause 
an explosion as soon as proper contact can be established. Ten 
million Moslems are awaiting the call. England will have no men 
at her disposal in case of a European conflict to increase the army 
of occupation — a mere five thousand." 

I should like here to draw the attention of the British 
authorities to a publication, printed in Geneva, en- 
titled, " La Patrie Egyptienne. Organ mensuel de 
I'emancipation egyptienne." The title, however am- 



384? BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

bitious it may sound, gives by no means an adequate 
idea of the contents. Of all the impassioned, seditious, 
fanatically homicidal sheets I have ever heard of this 
one beats them all. A list of subscribers to this gentle 
organ would prove interesting and enlightening. I 
knew of such a list in the possession of a German official 
whom I met in Berlin. If ever my recording angel 
demands payment for that beastly list which I never 
got, it will be a heavy settlement. I never tried so hard 
to wheedle any one as I did when trying to get hold of 
that register. But all my preliminary manoeuvres and 
attacks failed. I might have had better luck in subse- 
quent attempts but for the unfortunate " accident " 
that summarily cut short my German explorations. 

" It is quite true," several of my Turkish informants 
admitted, " that the Sultan has not the influence over 
the Mohammedan states of the Islam world he is sup- 
posed to have as its spiritual head. The Arabs, for in- 
stance, have a far greater leaning towards England and 
France than towards Turkey and Germany." I heard 
that some years ago Abdul Hamid tried by insidious 
intrigues to obtain a stronger influence over his co-re- 
ligionists in India, in order to use this as a lever in his 
negotiations with the British. His efforts met with 
complete failure. 

As far as any uprising in the Empire itself is con- 
cerned there seems to be no doubt that Turkey will be 
able to cope with Arabs, Seidists, or Ismailists, should 
this occur. But it is believed that the stronger the 
outside attacks on the Turkish Empire, the more con- 
solidated will the country itself become. 

Germany is working hard to increase the Sultan's 
power and influence. Owing to her stratagems and 
propaganda, there has gradually arisen among a num- 



THE GERMAN-TURKISH ALLIANCE 385 

ber of people of other Mohammedan states a feeling, 
if not a conviction, that the only safeguard of their in- 
dependence lies in an alliance with the Ottoman Empire. 
(Another " Self-Defence" Alliance of the order of the 
German-Turkish Entente!) The Germans found many 
willing ears both in Persia and Afghanistan in which 
to pour sinister words of warning, " And," so I was 
assured, " it would be unwise to deny that in many 
places they have borne the desired fruit." 

The crux of Germany's nefarious schemes in the East 
may be found in the following statement by Excellence 
Baron Mumm von Schwarzenstein, a former German 
Ambassador to China, and, at present, the go-between 
of the Berlin Foreign Office and neutral journalists. 

He said: " Our teachings and judicious propaganda 
in Persia and Afghanistan have already borne excellent 
results. England's frantic efforts to enlist Persia on 
the side of the Allies have proved absolute failures, and 
so they will remain. All British schemes in Persia and 
Afghanistan have been thwarted by Germany. Gradu- 
ally those countries are beginning to realise the dan- 
ger threatening them from the side of those two op- 
pressors of nations — England and Russia. At the 
same time, Germany will show the Mohammedan peo- 
ples that England's world dominion is not founded upon 
real strength, but largely upon imaginary power." 

" Somewhat after the style of the chalk-line that im- 
prisons the cock," he added as an after-thought. 

Germany has set out to undermine and eventually 
destroy England's rule in Egypt and India. To drive 
her out of both of those countries is her one great ob- 
ject. That she will stop at nothing I need not empha- 
sise at this date. 

Baron von Mumm continued: "Once England has 



386 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

been driven off the map of Asia and Africa, another 
European nation, but one that stands spiritually much 
higher, will bring Western Kultur into the East. 

" Supported by Turkey, Germany is the logical 
power to carry out this world mission. It must be the 
ultimate goal of the German-Austrian-Hungarian Alli- 
ance to bring its civilising influence across the Black 
and Caspian Seas ; across the Turkish Empire, through 
Persia, Afghanistan, over the Hindu Kush, into Cen- 
tral Asia before the very walls of China, for the benefit 
and salvation of the Mohammedan peoples." 

To thwart those plans will be England's task. I say 
England advisedly, because the interests of the Allies 
are, as far as the Turkish and other Mohammedan 
States are concerned, far from identical. 

A most fertile, most urgent field of action awaits us 
between Constantinople and the Khaibar Pass. 



CHAPTER LII 

ON " STEAFING " AND THOSE WHO DON't 

'TTATRED is the feeling prevalent among our 
X X lower classes, where it is inculcated and en- 
couraged by the Press of this country. Among people 
of our standing — that is, among the educated — in 
Germany, the strongest feeling towards England is not 
one of hatred but of disappointment." 

The above statement, and let me immediately testify 
to its perfect sincerity, was made to me by Colonel 
Count von Lerchenfeld at Munich, who is at present 
serving in the Bavarian Army, but in peace time is 
Governor-General Lord-Lieutenant of one of the prov- 
inces near Munich. I met him through the kind offices 
of Miss Fay, an American, member of the Royal Opera 
in Munich. 

His words, which at the time caused me much sur- 
prise, were spoken in answer to my remark on his evi- 
dent lack of the " Gott-strafe-England " spirit, of which 
one heard and saw so much on the surface of German 
life. Man}' times since then, when talking to other 
prominent Germans, his words have come back to me. 
Even those who were lavish in their display of criticism 
of England's attitude I often suspected mainly of lip 
service. Mind you, I am speaking here of the upper 
classes only. 

At the Bavarian Foreign Office in Munich I had the 
pleasure of meeting the Secretary of State, von Loessl, 
and the Minister for Agriculture, Herr von Meinel. 
Both echoed the sentiments of Count Lerchenfeld, which 
I quoted at the head of this chapter. 

387 



388 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Herr von Meinel, in the course of our talk, said : 
" This is terrible ! It's a disastrous war for all con- 
cerned. Whoever is the conqueror, we shall all lose. 
I strongly disapprove of nursing and inflaming this 
bitter spirit of hatred. After all, this war must end 
some day, and then we shall all have to live together 
again." 

I liked Herr von Meinel. He spoke with a deep sin- 
cerity which was very convincing. 

If you want straight, unadulterated hatred of Eng- 
land at first hand you must visit the restaurants and 
cafes, the " Rathskeller " of the Vaterland. In such 
places you can hear it expressed at almost every 
table. Sometimes there are recitations or singing, 
and some wild-eyed, Kaiser-moustached-patriotic-actor- 
singer leaps on to the platform to render, with appro- 
priate gesture, Lissauer's " Hymn of Hate." Then 
you will witness a demonstration that is sure to make a 
deep impression on you, deeper perhaps than it does 
upon the demonstrators themselves. You go home and 
at once start an article beginning : " The whole atmos- 
phere is saturated with the * Gott-strafe-England ' 
spirit." 

I admit I have often been puzzled to know how deep 
this feeling of hatred really goes, and whether it is not 
largely an artificial product, inspired and fostered by 
the authorities, in order to keep things going, to main- 
tain the people at concert pitch and the war popular. 
The Germans are extremely sensitive to what they call 
" Massensuggestion " ("Mass suggestion"). It is 
common knowledge that the bulk of the people are like 
sheep (a peculiarly German characteristic), namely, 
they either follow their leaders blindly or are simply 
driven. 



C^Xi^c:iSk?A-x:na ^7- 








3^Te ^o^ng ttt gut oentiliett unb.^cO. 




3n cinem rgen>ift"i !lniTiei« ttarfer f ($ bit fH< QJetpflcenng ift oon&flHc^; ntctH Uitncn 
Ocfongenm nad^ '55eUet»en betoeeen. fle irtc^t oOe* oufefTen. 




Vii >?o»angenen tretben jeinoetu mit Ieic6J«n 
, ^Ubeilen au§ec^aU) ties £>aufe< befc^&ftigt. 



cie burfen off *in ^ab nedtnen. 




gtforgf. 



ttte Cti^tvenpunbcten er^aittn angcmcfTciit 
f andidie 'StbanMung. 



German Prisoners in England 
Hoic the press keeps the fres of "strafing" England burning 



ON " STRAFING » ^89 

During the months I spent in Germany I have met 
and talked to many Germans with whom a feeling of 
disappointment overshadowed more or less strongly the 
spirit of hatred. 

This seemed to me specially marked in my conversa- 
tions with Herr von Gwinner, Dr. Solf, Dr. Walther 
Rathenau, Professor Doctor Francke, and several 
others. Invariably, when they warmed up to the con- 
versation that feeling of disappointment would be ex- 
pressed in one form or another. One condition only 
is essential, viz., j'ou must be alone with them, what the 
Germans call " Unter vier Augen " (" under four 
eyes "). The minute you run up against two Germans 
together, every pacific sentiment, every generous feel- 
ing towards the foe, is at once suppressed. They seem 
to find it necessary to encourage each other, and either 
of them would be ashamed to show anything else but 
a " Gott-strafe-England " spirit. " Deutschland iiber 
Alles." 

An officer I met in Hamburg, a naval commander, 
said to me one evening : " It is all such a pity, be- 
cause we were beginning to understand each other better 
and better as time went on. This is especially true of 
those among us who have visited England; ever since 
then we have felt drawn towards the English and have 
admired them. Our interest grew year by year. After 
all, one must admire the power which enables a small 
country to rule almost a quarter of the world. Every 
one of us who spent any time there at all came back 
with opinions entirely different to those held by the 
majority of our countrymen." 

I recall a most curious dinner conversation at the 
house of a German lady in Berlin. She knew England 
very well. " Yes," she remarked, " they do know how 
to live over there. Take a London season, we have 



390 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEH. 

nothing here that can be compared with it." A young 
German officer, who completed the party, added his 
quota to the eulogy : " Yes, I agree with you there, 
the English know how to manage their pleasures. Have 
you ever spent a day at Ascot? It's the most wonder- 
ful, the most beautiful social event in all the world." 
Then my hostess chimed in again : " You must admit, 
too, that when an Englishman is a gentleman he is the 
greatest gentleman in the world." 

To say that such a conversation took place in a 
German house during the year 1915 must seem absurd, 
ludicrous and impossible, 3^et every word of it was ut- 
tered, and a great deal more in the same strain. If I 
had been an Englishman I would probably have asked: 
" Are 3'ou trying to pull my leg? " Under the circum- 
stances, however, I did not feel quite comfortable at the 
turn the conversation was taking. Not that I sus- 
pected a trap (quite a common procedure in Germany), 
for I knew my hostess better than to do that; no, my 
discomfort arose from my knowledge of the German spy 
system, in which the very walls have ears. Indeed, if 
there had been a German policeman or Secret Service 
man (or woman) about, I think the three of us would 
have been locked up at once. 

Count von Lerchenfeld, whom I have already quoted, 
smilingly remarked, when speaking about the fighting 
qualities of the British: " It takes one blow to knock 
a Frenchman down, but ' Donnerwetter ' it takes sev- 
eral hard cracks to floor a Scotchman, and even then 
he'll show fight." (I should mention that I met Count 
von Lerchenfeld while he was on five days' leave from 
the front, near Ypres !) 

I have spoken to a great number of German aviators, 
and invariably their verdict of the British was : " They 
have given, us a great surprise. They are fine ; we never 



ON "STRAFING" 391 

thought they would show up so well, and they are im- 
proving day by day. But their machines cannot com- 
pete with ours, they are too slow." 

I would like to state in conclusion, and state most 
emphatically, that in this chapter I have only tried 
to point out some of the oases that exist in the great 
desert of German hatred — oases which were as refresh- 
ing to me when I discovered them as the places from 
which I borrowed their name. I have given some of 
my personal experiences, and added some purely per- 
sonal impressions. I do not wish them to be considered 
as an argument one way or another. 



CHAPTER LIII 

THE FATEFUL INTERVIEW WITH BAKON MACCHIO, LATE 
AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN AMBASSADOR IN ROME 

DURING a short visit to Rome in 1915, just before 
Italy entered the war, His Excellency the Ameri- 
can Ambassador, Mr. Thomas Nelson Page, was kind 
enough to give me an introduction to Baron Macchio, 
the then Austrian Ambassador to Italy. After many 
abortive attempts, I finally succeeded in persuading him 
to give me an interview for publication. I had to prom- 
ise, first, that I would not try to discuss with him the 
Austro-Italian negotiations then in progress ; second, 
that before publishing the interview I would submit it 
to him for approval. Of course there were no objec- 
tions on my part to give those assurances. 

What a big bam of a place the Palazzo Venezia is; 
with all its iron doors it reminded me almost of a prison. 
How different to the attractive, home-like English sur- 
roundings of Sir Rennell Rodd's official residence on 
the Via Venti Settembre. 

I had many talks with the genial First Secretary of 
the Embassy, Count Ambrozy. His optimism certainly 
was unlimited. During one of our meetings he said: 
" I can best prove to you what I think of the situation 
between Italy and Austria by telling you that I have 
just sent for my wife to come to Rome. Surely you do 
not think I would do that if I thought there was going 
to be any trouble ? " Let me repeat that Count Am- 
brozy was First Secretary and Charge d' Affaires of the 
Austrian Embassy! 

But to come to the interview with His Excellency the 
392 



INTERVIEW WITH BARON MACCHIO 393 

Austrian Ambassador, Baron Macchio. We talked 
for about an hour. 

The Ambassador went at length into the Serbian 
question, which has been written about and expounded 
so often that I need not repeat his conversation, save to 
say that — according to His Excellency — there exists 
a great misapprehension abroad as to the feeling be- 
tween Austro-Serbians and Serbians proper. 

" The majority of Serbians of Austria and Hun- 
gary," he explained, " do not look towards Serbia as 
their leader. They are more civilised and economically 
far more advanced than the Serbians. 

" The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was 
forced upon us by the reinstatement of a Turkish Par- 
liament. It would have brought the many Mohamme- 
dans in these provinces in an anomalous position in case 
they should have been elected to the Turkish Parlia- 
ment. Austria could hardly have allowed her own sub- 
jects — which they practically were even before the 
formal annexation — to sit in a Turkish House of Rep- 
resentatives. The annexation was for us a vital neces- 
sity to maintain our position towards the Balkan States. 
Shortly after the annexation we gave both provinces 
autonomy." 

I asked the Ambassador to what reason he ascribed 
the serious defeats which the Austrian army had suf- 
fered at the hands of the Serbians. " Those losses have 
been greatly exaggerated," he replied. " It is true, 
however, that mistakes have been made through over- 
zealousness on tlie part of some of our militar}' leaders, 
who advanced too quickly into Serbia without establish- 
ing proper lines of communication with the rear. This 
is the main cause of our reverses. As to the ' taking ' 
of Belgrade by the Serbians, that city had long before 
been evacuated by our troops." 



394 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

Trying to lead the conversation into other channels, 
more recent ones, I asked the Ambassador what would 
be the result if Hungary should attempt to make peace 
alone. 

" Such a conjecture is absolutely unthinkable and 
impossible. Here, again, people abroad do not under- 
stand in the least our relationship with Hungary. In 
the first place, Hungary, as a member of the Dual Em- 
pire, cannot make peace alone, any more, or rather less, 
than Saxony or Bavaria could, without downright start- 
ing and finishing a revolution first. In the second place, 
the interests of Hungary in this war are more than ever 
interwoven with those of Austria; her importance as a 
State, her position as a first-class Power — all are based 
upon this alliance. One of the many great mistakes our 
enemies make is to build upon the political differences 
the two countries have had in the past. I can best 
refer you to Count Tisza's attitude, both in speech and 
actions, since the beginning of this war. The end of 
this struggle will only bring a stronger and closer con- 
solidation of the Dual Empire. 

" Hungary has not yet forgotten, or forgiven, Rus- 
sia's invasion of her territory in 1849, when a Russian 
army of two hundred thousand men crushed the Hun- 
garian revolution. Nobody in Hungary doubts that 
the time had come once and for all to settle the Serbian 
question, which had become a poison, eating into the 
vitals of the Empire. The war is popular among all 
classes and parties, and they have determined, as vari- 
ous Russian invasions into the Carpathian mountains 
on Hungarian soil have shown them the seriousness of 
the situation, to fight to the bitter end. In this basic 
idea towards the war we are in full accord with Ger- 
many. 

" Necessarily we see the war purely from the Russian 



INTERVIEW WITH BARON MACCHIO 395 

and Serbian danger side, while lack of contact with 
England and English interests naturally causes an ab- 
sence of that hatred which Germany bears towards that 
country. Our heart in this war is, above everything, 
against Russia, as we realise that it means the existence 
of the Dual Empire Monarchy. And as Hungary's in- 
terests arc best promoted by her firm consolidation with 
Austria, so the interests of the Dual Empire live in her 
friendship, her alliance with German}'. But even if 
these interests were not so obvious, Austria-Hungary 
would never make peace separately, because our Em- 
peror and our Government will stand or fall by their 
word and their treaty." 

On the present status between Austria and Italy — 
and especiall}'^ with regard to his official mission — the 
Ambassador refused to make an}' comments. 

So far Baron Macchio. 

Alas ! little did I realise the terrible consequences this 
interview was going to have. 



CHAPTER LIV 

ANOTHER " DAILY TELEGRAPH " INTERVIEW THAT UPSET 

BERLIN 

TROUBLE - — ARREST ESCAPE 

OF all the interviews I have ever negotiated during 
my career as a journalist there is none for which 
I paid as dearly as the one recorded in the previous 
chapter. 

What irony of fate that the interview which had been 
one of the most difficult to obtain should be the one 
that I would have given a year of my life never to have 
written. 

This is what happened. 

After having prepared the copy, submitted it to 
Baron Macchio for his approval, and having received it 
back practically untouched, I was enabled, through the 
courtesy of Sir Rennell Rodd, the British Ambassador, 
to send it to London in the Embassy bag. Of course it 
had to pass through the British Foreign Office. In a 
special and separate letter I gave elaborate instructions 
about its publication, as I was immediately leaving for 
Berlin. What exactly happened I have never been able 
to find out, whether the letter and the article got sepa- 
rated at the Foreign Office, or whether the letter got 
lost entirely, I cannot say, but a few weeks later, while 
I was back in Berlin and continuing to reap a rich 
journalistic harvest, the Macchio interview appeared in 
The Daily Telegraph, and under the usual " SPECIAL 
CORRESPONDENT " heading. 

Once more a Daily Telegraph interview threw a jour- 
396 



« DAILY TELEGRAPH " INTERVIEW 397 

nalistic bomb in the German camp, and set official cir- 
cles in Berlin and Vienna in commotion. 

An article in the Berliner Tageblatt started the ball 
rolling. The idea that a representative of The Daily 
Telegraph should have an interview with an Austrian 
Ambassador was, of course, put down as simply pre- 
posterous, and merely regarded as a further proof of 
British lying and falsification of news. " Probably the 
' interview ' was a second-hand report of a conversation 
the Austrian Ambassador had with an acquaintance, 
who passed it on to an English correspondent." " Be 
that as it may," the article continued, " Baron Macchio 
should have remembered his official position. What- 
ever his private feelings may be with regard to ' Aus- 
tria's absence of hatred towards England on account of 
lack of contact^' he, as an ambassador, had no right to 
express them in places where they might find, and, as 
we see now, did find, their way to the enemy. Ger- 
many's enemies are Austria's enemies ; and, by the same 
token, Germany's interests are Austria's interests in 
these serious times, and it does not behove any Aus- 
trian, least of all one in a responsible position, to point 
to a difference in sentiment." In this strain the article 
ran on for a whole column. 

The fat was in the fire! the game was up! When 
my journalistic star was at its zenith, it was dashed to 
earth. My usefulness in Germany had come to a sud- 
den end. 

It was almost heart-breaking. 

As to my arrest, the various interrogations, my ex- 
planation as to how the incriminating article appeared, 
my release, re-arrest, release again, but under orders not 
to leave Berlin ; their demand for my parole — which, 
need I say, I refused — and my ultimate escape across 



398 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

the Baltic ; the harassing days of my trip across the 
North Sea in the tramp steamer Flora in fear of a Ger- 
man submarine whose commander would press me to re- 
turn ; and finally my safe landing at Hull — well, over 
those incidents and sensations I must, at least for the 
present, draw a veil. In the first place, they might im- 
plicate kind people who have helped me; in the second 
place, I think those sensations, heart-aches and worries, 
to say nothing of the physical adventures, would fill a 
book by themselves. 

The nervous strain had, of course, been a severe one, 
and for some time after my return I suffered from the 
reaction. 

But all's well that ends well. 

These last months I have necessarily, for several 
hours a day, had " my spiritual home in Germany " ; 
but, glory be, I had only to look out of my window, 
over the gentle rolling hills of beautiful Shropshire, to 
be reassured at once that, anyhow, physically I was 
happily in the heart of Old England. 



PART V 

FINALE 



ENVOY 

A LAST word of warning! 
England has done wonders in this war. Apart 
from the fact that your fleet is keeping it going, the 
raising of five miUion men is a feat that has never be- 
fore been accomplished in the history of the world, and 
could not be equalled in any European country to-day. 

But though you have done wonders, before this war 
is settled, before, in the words of Mr. Asquith, Europe 
willTbe safe from the menace of Prussia's military domi- 
nation, you will have to perform super-wonders — mira- 
cles. 

You will have to make still greater efforts, still 
greater sacrifices, and, compared with what is yet to 
come, the battles of yesterday, of Ypres, Hill 60, Festu- 
bert, Neuve Chapelle and Loos, will seem diminutive. 
The real fighting will begin when the Germans fight on 
the defensive, their back against the wall, and that fight- 
ing will be terrible. 

I cannot say for certain, as I have not seen them, 
but I am told, on very excellent authority, that the 
Belgian fortresses along the Meuse have all been rebuilt 
and re-armed, and are stronger than ever now. The 
smaller forts are said to be protected with the famous 
Gruson plate, while entirely new ordnance has been 
placed in them. To take those forts will be a task com- 
pared with which the breaking of the first line German 
trenches will be child's play. 

But I have the greatest faith and admiration for 
Thomas Atkins. It will be done; it must be done. 
Only after the Meuse has been wrested from the Ger- 
mans — then, and then only, will you be able to con- 

401 



402 BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL 

template speaking of " the beginning of the end " 1 
Whether you will ever get beyond the Rhine I seri- 
ously doubt ; in fact, if I must be honest, I think it will 
prove an impossibility, unless Holland comes in, which 
is not very likely. 

You may as well recognise, first and last, that this is 
primarily an Anglo-German war. Remember that as 
time goes on your Allies will grow weaker in the same 
ratio as Germany does, neither more nor less. 

But for England Germany would have been victori- 
ous on all fronts; but for England the Germans would 
be the masters of Europe to-day, and . . . they know 
it. Russia will find that she will have her hands full in 
holding her Eastern front intact. While the Germans 
may not continue the advance started last year, I 
doubt whether the Russians have as yet the organisa- 
tion to deliver a decisive defeat. I use " organisation " 
advisedly. They have the men and they have the am- 
munition. It is Organisation they are up against, and 
theirs is inferior to Germany's. Austria will always 
be child's play for Russia. She has hammered that 
country many times before, and will do so many times 
again. But defeating the Austrians will not affect the 
German lines in Russia very considerably. On the 
other hand, if the Austrians retreat too far, the Rus- 
sian lines of communication through Galicia will be 
seriously endangered by German flank attacks. Rus- 
sia's IDEA is that she WILT. DEAL WITH AUSTKIA AND 

Turkey, but that the Western Allies will have 

TO TAKE THE LION's SHARE IN DEFEATING GERMANY. 

That is WHAT Russia expects from the Allies. 

The Russian march to Berlin is a dream that will — 
at least in this war — never be realised. No, it is Eng- 
land, and England again and again, that will have to 
settle Germany. The Russians alone cannot drive the 





ENVOY 403 

Germans out of their country. The English will have 
to do it for them — at the Western front. 

You will have to smash ! smash ! smash ! 

You do not know Germany. Your deputations of 
parliamentarians, of editors and other journalists, what 
did they amount to? How many Englishmen amongst 
the number who have travelled in Germany speak the 
language? And how do they expect to get to under- 
stand a nation, its ambitions, its intrigues, its charac- 
ter, unless they do? Lord Haldane does, and so do a 
few others, and they must have seen the trend German 
ambition and German feeling were taking these latter 
years : " England, der Feind " (" England, the foe ") . 

Let me impress upon you that Germany is preparing 
for peace as thoroughly as she prepared for war. Of 
course, her chances of influencing the British public 
through the Press are at present nil, but look out the 
moment peace parleys begin in earnest ! Then this 
country will be flooded with Gei*man-made literature, 
arguments, pleadings, all cleverly disguised, and I fear 
that there will be plenty of " reasonable people " here, 
otherwise called peace-cranks, pacifists, but whose real 
names should be " traitors," who will mother and father 
German-made arguments. You have only to remem- 
ber some of the articles that appeared in several of your 
publications up to the very day England declared war. 

There are still many Kiihlmans in Germany. They 
are a German specialty. 



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